Immigrant student center wins reprieve

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
An absorption center for immigrant tertiary students in Haifa has won a last-minute reprieve from closure after Mayor Yona Yahav pleaded with Immigrant Absorption Minister Eli Aflalo and Jewish Agency head Ze'ev Bielski to allow it to remain open, reports www.mynet.co.il. The center, Haifa's only remaining absorption center for immigrant university students, currently houses 140 students, mostly from Western countries. According to the report, the Jewish Agency, which owns immigrant absorption centers around the country, has already closed three student absorption centers in Haifa because of financial difficulties, and was planning to close the Aba Hushi center, the last such center that caters specifically for higher-education students. But Mayor Yona Yahav said the closure would fly in the face of the city's efforts to attract new Western immigrants, and sought urgent discussions with Aflalo and Bielski. The report said the intervention had resulted in the agency's canceling its closure decision.