Wearing long white robes, the Ethiopians, who had walked for three weeks to reach Gondar airport, arrived in Tel Aviv on board a scheduled Ethiopian Airlines flight.

Over the next eight months, Israel plans to evacuate 3,800 people from the remote Quara region of northern Ethiopia.

The BBC's Hilary Andersson: "The airlift could take months"

They are the last remnants of Ethiopia's Jewish population, most of which has moved to Israel in the past 15 years.

"This is the first of 40 flights on which we plan over the next 40 weeks to bring to Israel the 3,800 Jews from Quara," said Michael Jankelowitz, spokesman for the Jewish Agency which handles immigration to Israel.

He added: "We do not want to upset the authorities in Addis Ababa by organising a spectacular operation."

Most members of the Quara community are already reported to have gathered in the town of Gondar to await their turn to depart.

Many are under the age of 18, and are suffering from malnutrition and disease.

Gradual move

About 70,000 Ethiopian Jews already live in Israel, having arrived in two large-scale airlifts in 1985 and 1991.

An Ethiopian government spokesman said recently that "a massive exodus" of Ethiopian Jews was not in accord with ruling party policy, but he acknowleged that all Ethiopians had a constitutional right to emigrate.

The Israeli constitution offers immigration rights and citizenship to Jews from anywhere in the world.

But the arrival of the Quara Jews was delayed by disagreements with rival Ethiopian Jews, internal politics in Ethiopia, and resistance from within Israel itself.