104 Matt Evans Population Dispersal Policy and the 1990s Immigration Wave ABSTRACT Te article examines whether policymakers were successful in taking advan- tage of the massive immigration of the 1990s to meet the demographic objectives laid out in Israel’s long-standing population dispersal policy. Tis policy has been one of the most consistent in Israel’s history, endorsed by every government since the State’s establishment. Population dispersal policy has been a key component of security, housing, economic, and land- use policy for more than sixty years. As in the 1950s and 1960s, the massive infux of one million immigrants from the former Soviet Union provided a unique opportunity to realize this policy’s goals. Tis work examines the degree to which that opportunity was utilized through analyses of policy implementation and demographic change during and after the 1990s immigration wave. INTRODUCTION It has been twenty years since the beginning of the massive immigration wave from the former Soviet Union (FSU). At the outset of the immigration infux policymakers saw the potential to realize important policy goals through the proper absorption of the large numbers of people entering the country. Foremost among these was Israel’s long-standing population dispersal policy. Te article examines the degree to which poli- cymakers were successful in utilizing the massive immigration of the 1990s to meet the demographic objectives laid out in this policy. Te immigration wave started in late 1989. Despite the fact that it only transpired in the last few months of that year, immigration fgures in 1989