More than most nations, immigration is a national priority for the State of Israel. The number of immigrants arriving each year is presented yearly as an indicator of the national enterprise much in the way nations announce the GDP or other economic indicators. On Wednesday, the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency released figures for 2006, which showed a steep drop in the number of new arrivals. The 21,000 immigrants is the lowest total since 1988. Officials say the decline signals an end to the constant flow of people seeking to leave former Soviet-bloc nations. More than one million people emigrated from those countries to
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