<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occupied Palestine | فلسطين]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[occupiedpalestine]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://occupiedpalestine.wordpress.com/author/hajarhajar/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Israeli Government Allocates $100M to Birthright, Educational Zionist Trip &#8211; International Middle East Media&nbsp;Center]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p><span class="article-details"><span class="article-detail">Wednesday January 12, 2011 16:59</span><span class="article-detail"><img class="icon" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.imemc.org/graphics/person.gif" alt="author" /> by Ramona M. &#8211; IMEMC and Agencies</span></span> <a href="http://www.imemc.org/report_posts?subject=Report%20post:%20Story%2060401%20with%20title:%20Israeli%20Government%20Allocates%20$100M%20to%20Birthright,%20Educational%20Zionist%20Trip&amp;message=Report%20post:%20Story%2060401%20with%20title:%20Israeli%20Government%20Allocates%20$100M%20to%20Birthright,%20Educational%20Zionist%20Trip%0Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.imemc.org%2Findex.php%3Fobj_id%3D53%26story_id%3D60401%26%0A%0AEnter+your+reason+here+-+please+do+not+remove+the+above+link+as+it+will+allow+an+editor+to+easily+remove+the+offending+content"><img class="icon" title="Report post" src="https://i2.wp.com/www.imemc.org/graphics/report.gif" alt="Report post" /></a></p>
<blockquote class="article-intro"><p>Israel increases funding for  Birthright, a 10-day free educational trip to Israel, which aims to  bring 51,000 Jewish young adults to Israel annually by 2013</p></blockquote>
<p class="photo"><a name="attachment36322"></a> <a href="http://www.imemc.org/attachments/jan2011/birthright0903091.jpg"><img class="summary-image" title="Click on image to see full-sized version" src="https://i0.wp.com/www.imemc.org/cache/imagecache/local/attachments/jan2011/460_0___10000000_0_0_0_0_0_birthright0903091.jpg" alt="Birthright Trip Photo: Forward.com" width="460" height="307" /></a><br />
Birthright Trip Photo: Forward.com</p>
<p class="article">According  to Ynetnews, last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced  that the government has approved $100 million in funding for  Taglit-Birthright Israel over the next three years.</p>
<p>The goal of the funding increase is to enable Taglit-Birthright Israel  to bring 51,000 young Jewish adults annually on the 10-day free  educational trip by 2013, which would mean that one in every two Jewish  young adults worldwide will have gone to Israel on a Birthright trip.</p>
<p>The 10 day trip takes participants to tourist sites only within Israel.  Participants are not taken to areas where Arab Israelis reside, nor are  they encouraged to visit occupied East Jerusalem or the West Bank.</p>
<p>In 2010, 30,000 young adults participated in Birthright Israel trips,  while some 30,000 others were waitlisted due to lack of funding  capacity.</p>
<p>“I am proud that I was the first Israeli prime minister who supported  the Birthright Israel project. This bold idea is a great success. Today  it is the way tens of thousands of young Jews from around the world  strengthen their connection to Judaism and Israel,&#8221; said Netanyahu.</p>
<p>Since it began in 2000, over a quarter million young adults from more  than 53 countries have participated in the free educational trip to  Israel. They have been accompanied by some 50,000 Israeli young adults,  most of them in the army.<br />
Over 70% of participants cite it as a “life-changing experience.”</p>
<p>“Taglit-Birthright Israel began as a vision of the Israeli government,  philanthropists and Jewish communities, and in the course of the decade,  it has become the most successful Zionist project in the Jewish world,”  said Gidi Mark, CEO of Taglit-Birthright Israel.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.imemc.org/article/60401">Israeli Government Allocates $100M to Birthright, Educational Zionist Trip &#8211; International Middle East Media Center</a>.</p>
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