MOGADISHU, January 17 (IslamOnline.net) - Thousands of Ethiopian Jews - better known as Falasha - are packing up to leave for Israel to join some 35,000 others who immigrated to the Jewish state, starting 1980s, as the Israeli diplomats in the poor African country are putting their papers in order.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom visited Ethiopia a few days ago, where he held talks with a number of senior officials and visited the northern Gondar region to meet members of the Jewish Falasha Mura community.

Hundreds of hopefuls are now packing their bags and selling their property in preparation for settling down in Israel, while the Israeli consulate in Gondar is completing their paperwork.

The number of the would-be immigrants from the remaining Ethiopian Jews is expected to hit 18,000.

Shalom said in an announcement to Israeli Radio that the rate of immigration of Ethiopian Jews - 300 immigrants per month - is very low and the problem must be resolved.

But the Ethiopian government reacted reluctantly to the Israeli plans, saying an migration en masse is not needed as was the case in the 1980s and 1990s as Ethiopians are free to travel wherever they wished.

Israel organized the airlifting of 20,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel in 1984 and another 15,000 members of the community in 1991.

Press Reports said there are around 80,000 Ethiopian Jews living in Israel, many of them airlifted there during times of crises, the BBC NewsOnline said.

Ethiopia is suffering from ferocious ethnic cleansing that pushed some 16,000 people to leave for Sudan over the past month, according to the World Relief aid agency.

But the two sides seemed to have watered down the disagreement, as Israel pledged to strengthen economic ties in trade, investment, industry and agriculture with the poor country, where civil conflict and the specter of starvation are potential threats.

Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin also ended a trip to Israel, where officials promised to boost political and trade ties with the African country.

A number of Israeli businessmen and investors accompanied the Israeli Foreign Minister as confirmation of the Israeli-Ethiopian cooperation in trade and investment. Shalom asserted that both countries will also cooperate extensively in the fields of scientific research and culture.

Shalom also said that Ethiopia, as headquarters for the African Union, can play a pivotal role in increasing cooperation between Israel and African nations. The Ethiopian Prime Minister, in return, expressed his wish to be able to assist Israel in achieving this.

Observers say the immigration is an attempt to overcome the demographic balance between Israel and the Palestinians.

Many of the Ethiopian immigrants had been transferred to the West Bank, where Israel had built settlements and rouge outposts on occupied Palestinian areas.

Observers see that Israel intends to make Ethiopia its take-off point for the rest of Africa, especially since it has borders with three Arab countries, Sudan, Somalia and Djibouti, which still hold strict views towards Israel.

Journalistic sources confirmed that the largest station for Israeli intelligence, the Mossad, in Africa is in Ethiopia and it is responsible for providing information on the African horn and the Red Sea regions.

The alleged war against terrorism was one of the important topics of discussion in the talks of Shalom and Ethiopian officials. Shalom referred to Ethiopia's firm stance against the terrorism that "has unfortunately become a part of our everyday lives".

Ethiopia is the second country to cooperate with Israel in its "war on terrorism".

Israeli investigators have been active in Kenya investigating the 2002 Mombasa attacks and the Kenyan coast is under U.S. and Israeli surveillance.

Israel requested that Israeli security officials be present in Addis Ababa's international airport ever since flights between Tel Aviv and Addis Ababa have resumed last April.

Moving the Horn of Africa to Somalia, Israel's attempts to get in touch with "Princes of War" started after the collapse of central government in the power-vacuumed country and the start of the civil war in 1991.

The last attempt was a secret meeting that took place in former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak's office in 1998 on an Israeli yacht off the Elat harbor in the Red Sea.

News of this secret meeting were leaked to the Israeli and Somali press, raising conclusions that Israel had finally succeeded to penetrate one of the last pockets of antagonism towards the Jewish state, which had previously refused to have any relations with the state.

On the trade front, Somali sources told IslamOnline.net that an Israeli communications company is negotiating a deal to provide Somali communications companies with international phone lines and internet services at competitive prices.