On 28 March 1985 the U.S. operation, code-named Sheba, began.
Israeli Ethiopian Jews working for the Mossad identified the
Ethiopian Jews in the camps and took them by truck to the airstrip,
which was eight miles (13 kilometers) outside Gedaref, just far
enough to make it difficult to spot the planes from the town. Six U.S.
Hercules airplanes loaded with food and medical supplies departed to
Sudan from a U.S. air base near Frankfurt, West Germany, and landed
at 20-minute intervals to pick up the remaining Ethiopian Jews. How-
ever, instead of flying to an intermediate destination, the airplanes
flew directly to an Israeli Air Force base near Eilat. The original plan
of Operation Sheba was to rescue as many as 2,000 Ethiopian Jews
from the camps, but they found there only 494. Three Hercules air-
craft returned empty.
After Operation Sheba ended, the Israeli government believed that all
of the Ethiopian Jews had been evacuated from the refugee camps in
Sudan. In fact, many were left, many of them old and sick. Soon after
Operation Sheba, Numeiri was overthrown and found asylum in Cairo.
The former Sudanese vice president Tayeb and other officials were im-
prisoned or executed for allowing the Ethiopian Jews to leave Sudan for
Israel. In sum, out the approximately 76,000 people of the Ethiopian
Jewish community, 16,975 were taken to Israel during the 1980s. From
1983 to 1985 alone, 12,606 were taken to Israel. See also SOLOMON
OPERATION.MOSHE DAYAN CENTER FOR THE MIDDLE EAST. Established
in 1983 at Tel Aviv University, the Moshe Dayan Center concentrates
its research on the Arab world, including North Africa, Turkey, and
Iran. It grew out of the Reuven Shiloah Institute, which was formed in
1959 under the aegis of the Israel Oriental Society and was incorpo-
rated into Tel Aviv University in 1965. The Moshe Dayan Center fo-
cuses on the modern history, politics, and current affairs of the Islamic
world. As an academic institution, however, the center does not adopt
or promote particular positions or policies. Its approach to furthering
peace is through enhancing understanding among academics, policy
makers, journalists, and the public at large about the complexities of
the Middle East. See also BEGIN-SADAT (BSA) CENTER FOR
STRATEGIC STUDIES; INTERNATIONAL POLICY INSTITUTE
FOR COUNTERTERRORISM; JAFFEE CENTER FOR STRATE-
GIC STUDIES.190 • MOSHE DAYAN CENTER FOR THE MIDDLE EAST06-102 (03) H-P.qxd 3/24/06 7:25 AM Page 190