They may be peasants who survive by herding goats in northern Ethiopia, but the Falasha Mura claim an ancestry that reads like a Biblical epic.
Jewish blood runs in their veins, they say, passed down from exiled tribes of Israel who followed the Nile into the ancient land of Kush -- the site of modern Ethiopia -- 2,500 years ago.
By the end of the 20th century, the Falasha Mura had converted to Christianity, but today their blood claim qualifies them to journey to Israel on a complimentary one-way ticket to modern houses, education and jobs.
It also places them at the center of controversy. Some say they are not descended from Jews at all, but opportunists with a chameleon-like ability to chop and change faith. Others accuse Israel of stealing part of Ethiopia's history.
Even their supporters say Israel is discriminating against them by not bringing them back fast enough.
Oblivious to arguments in Addis Ababa or Tel Aviv, the 24,000 Falasha Mura in Ethiopia are simply eager to start a new life in what they consider to be their promised land.
"I would like to go to Israel today," said a 70-year-old Falasha Mura named Tegegnie Tesaw, flashing a gap-toothed grin from a face wizened by years of sunshine and poverty.
"I've heard it's a flourishing country," he said, speaking at compound on a hillside suburb of Addis Ababa, waiting to make the trip under a program organized by Israel and Jewish charities.
While there is little sign of outward opposition to the plan in Ethiopia, some intellectuals resent what they see as an attempt to rob the country of a rich strand of a history entwined with Orthodox Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
"If the Israelis are interested in expressing concern for Ethiopian Jews, they should help them here," said Abdul Mohammed, an Ethiopian political analyst. "They are just conducting a massive cleansing of our culture and our heritage."
CONVERSION
Israeli scholars say the Falasha Mura are Ethiopian Jews who converted to Christianity between 30 and 110 years ago, but who have retained a distinct identity by shunning intermarriage.
Religious authorities in Israel will formally convert them back to Judaism.
The group is less well known than Ethiopian Jews referred to simply as the Falasha who never converted and who were rescued by Israel from famine and revolution in spectacular airlifts in the past two decades.
The Falasha Muras' Jewish status has been subject to more scrutiny, but in February 2003, the Israeli government decided to grant them the right of return to Israel for Jews, known as aliyah, heeding the advice of rabbis.
"These people look upon themselves as Jewish," said one Israeli researcher, declining to be named. "Their connection to their grandfathers and mothers who were Jewish is very strong."
Ethiopia's Jews have until relatively recently followed traditions familiar in Biblical times, such as sacrificing goats at Passover. Many of the old men wear white robes reminiscent of a sword-and-sandals movie version of the Old Testament.
Given their time-worn ways, life in Israel might come as something of a culture shock for many Falasha Mura, many of whom are illiterate and unaware of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
To make the move easier, the Israeli government and Jewish volunteer groups provide classes on everything from how to use household detergent to time keeping in a modern economy.
"DISCRIMINATION"
Israeli officials say they have been sending about 300 Falasha Mura a month to Israel for the past few years, many of whom are related to some 80,000 Ethiopian Jews already there. Activists say the actual number has often been less.
They accuse some members of the government of obstructing a more rapid transfer in preference for more educated Jews from Europe or the United States and Russia.
"There are some people in the government who have a discriminatory tendency," said Abraham Neguise, head of the South Wing to Zion, an advocacy group for Ethiopian Jews. "We have to accept Jews as they are," he told Reuters.
The gradual movement of the Falasha Mura is a very different phenomenon to the dramatic airlifts staged by Israel in the past.
In 1984, Israel organized the secret departure of some 6,000 Jews through the Operation Moses airlift from neighboring Sudan, bearing their co-religionists away from famine.
Seven years later, Operation Solomon plucked 14,400 Jews from Addis Ababa airport, hours before rebels fighting the former Marxist government entered the city.
Skeptics say the latest relocation exercise reflects the Falasha Mura's desire for the kind of chances to work or study that are unthinkable in Ethiopia's mud-brick villages.
Just as Ethiopian Christians disguised themselves as Muslims during the Middle Ages to pass through Islamic countries on their pilgrimages to Jerusalem, some scholars say the Falasha Mura are adopting a pragmatic approach to religion.
"The Falasha Mura are a group of Ethiopian Christians who would like to go to Israel," said Professor Richard Pankhurst, an expert on Ethiopian history. "What is clear is they're not descended from Jews in any significant way."
The Falasha Mura insist they are Jews, even if they have spent more time in church than the synagogue.
"I feel Jewish. I was going to church, but only because of the people around me," said Zemene Addis, 40, waiting at the compound. "Now we have decided to get back to our roots."