More than 7 million people inhabit Israel, according to the outcome of the census released by the Central Statistics Office, at times when Israel is celebrating 58 years since the State of Israel was established. 75% of the population is Jewish and the Arabs make 20%. The number of Israelis enlarged with 118,000 people since the 57th anniversary. Israel has now got 7,026,000 inhabitants, meaning 8,7% more than what it had when the state was created. From the total population about 130,000 Israelis emigrated from Romania. Nowadays their children are returning to their parents' native places one by one. Many of them want to get their Romanian citizenship back so that their children can get such citizenship too, Rompres informs. In her interview to Rompres, the Romanian ambassador to Israel Mariana Stoica claims this is a reason to be glad for, as most Romanian-origin Jews are elderly people now. The Romanian diplomat mentions authorities are trying to attract the second and third generations to maintain such bridges to the native country of parents and grandparents. The ambassador opines the Israeli youth's interest in Romania means the latter country is trusted by the Israeli public, due to the fact that the image that was at some time "between us and them" has changed. The community of Jews coming from Romania is rather large, as it is made up of about 130,000 people. The Romanian ambassador outlines the community is represented by people in academia, culture and business rather than in politics. Rodica Radian Gordon says in an interview to Rompres that they believe Romania to be a true friend and they are counting on this friendship for the future too, when Romania joins the EU. She describes the relations between Romania and Israel as highly important, not only because of geography, but mainly due to common past and values and Europe's status as Israel no. 1 trade partner. As for bilateral relations, she says she is glad there are several fields for collaboration. She explains the economic dimension, a main one, can't always be estimated by figures and claims bilateral trade can develop more and reach more than $ 300 million at present. As for central Europe, she argues, Romania is partner no. 2 for Israel and Israeli investors. She opines Israel is one of the states investing a lot in Romania, although this is not very visible, because not all Israeli companies are identified as such, as many of them are off-shores. In today's newspaper you can read Joel Millman's report published in the prestigious Wall Street Journal, emphasizing Israeli investors' growing interest in Romania, as the latter state is about to join the EU . (...) (D.E.)