About 190 Jews evacuate Serbia as NATO bombing attacks continue

NEW YORK, March 28 (JTA) — As NATO strikes continue in Kosovo and Yugoslavia, some Jews are choosing to leave the war-torn areas. About 190 Jews from Belgrade, Novi Sad and elsewhere in Yugoslavia have made their way to Budapest in recent days and are being cared for by the Budapest Jewish community, according to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. They are being housed temporarily in a boarding school and a Jewish community center, while plans to move them to a Budapest hotel are being considered. Jews remaining in Belgrade — where the Jewish community numbers roughly 1,200 — reported over the weekend that life continues as usual, except for longer bread lines, according to a JDC official. But Jews in Kosovo have declined offers to help them leave, according to Jewish aid workers who have been active in the former Yugoslavia. Plans have reportedly been drawn up to extract the approximately 60 Jews remaining in the Kosovar capital of Pristina if necessary, the workers said. Meanwhile, eight Jewish men from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia fled to Bulgaria over the weekend and are being cared for by local Jews near the Bulgarian capital of Sofia. The men, all of them college students, expressed fears that the conflict may spill over the Sebian-Macedonian border.