Asked how his new compatriots in Israel regard him and his fellow immigrants from the former Soviet Union, journalist Sergei Makarov, a native of Moscow, puts it plainly: "We are said to be criminals, whores, alcoholics and liars."

It's a common stereotype in Israel--the Soviet emigre as lowlife--even though the perception is wildly wrong. As a group, the 650,000 immigrants who have arrived from the former Soviet republics since 1989 are as ideal a set of newcomers as any host country could want. They are well educated, highly industrious and, as a rule, a disciplined bunch. Still, the persisting prejudices are slowing the integration of Soviet Jews into Israeli society. If anything, says Natan Sharansky, the ex-Soviet dissident and current champion of his fellow immigrants, the negative image is growing more entrenched. "Over time," he says, "it's considered less sensational and more a matter of fact."

Now Sharansky is fighting back, working to give the immigrants their dignity as well as their rightful place in Israel--in the parliament, that is. According to polls, his movement, Yisrael ba-Aliya, or Israel on the Rise, may win as many as six Knesset seats in this week's general elections.

Some critics argue that establishing an immigrants' party only deepens the division between the newcomers and the Israeli mainstream. Sharansky counters that he wants to make "the Russians," as they are known, "part of the decision-making process and thereby accelerate the process of integration." Even with as few as three seats, Yisrael ba-Aliya could prove a vital coalition partner to whichever of the main parties forms the next government, putting Sharansky in line for a Cabinet post.

Economically, the Russians appear to be doing notably well. Of those who have been in Israel five years or more, 70% have bought homes. Their unemployment rate fell from 19.3% in 1993 to 10.1% in 1995, though that's still higher than the 6.3% level in the general population. Reality is a bit grimmer than the statistics. To afford homes, many couples must move in with another family or two. Some 70% of those working are not employed in the field for which they have been educated. And Russians account for 30% of all children living in poverty and 22% of the elderly poor.

The main grievance, though, is in the insulting way the Russians are popularly regarded. They came to be miscast largely through unfortunate headlines that played up the new-emigre angle on crime stories. A recent murder in Tel Aviv illustrates the problem. A drunken Russian prostitute was arrested on suspicion of killing her roommate, also a call girl, by slashing her throat with a knife. Both women were illegal aliens and not Jewish, but the daily Ma'ariv referred to them mistakenly as Russian immigrants in its headlines.

The victim and her alleged killer are part of a large corps of prostitutes who, since the fall of the Iron Curtain, have been attracted to Israel by its relatively lax visa regulations. For the most part, they are visitors and not immigrants, but their presence has given rise to a false image of Russian emigre women as wanton.

The Russian immigrants brought with them a reputation for excessive drinking, but Ada Lichterov, a psychiatrist who runs a center for alcoholics near Tel Aviv, rejects the notion that alcoholism is rampant. "It's more that the culture of drinking is different here," she says. Whereas Russians imbibe on many occasions, including during the day, Israelis drink rarely and mainly at night.

"You can quote the facts all day long," Sharansky laments, "but it doesn't matter. Society wants to see it differently." The prejudices are fueled, he notes, "by the feeling among Israelis that they are so good to the Russians, and yet these people have the chutzpah to ask for more."

For its part, Yisrael ba-Aliya is not looking for handouts, beyond the package of benefits already offered new arrivals. Rather it seeks to strip the Israeli economy of its socialist trappings in order to create more prosperity, a popular plank among former subjects of communism.

Sharansky's party also wants to create a network of elite schools, similar to those of the Soviet Union, as an alternative to the more egalitarian Israeli system. To accommodate the large numbers of non-Jews among the Russian arrivals (because of intermarriage they make up 8.3%), Yisrael ba-Aliya wants to permit secular marriages, build more secular cemeteries and simplify conversion to Judaism.

The goal, says Sharansky, is to create a society in which Jews spread around the world would want to live, not just one where they can, if necessary, flee to. "We want to make our country one that attracts new immigrants instead of one that just waits for anti-Semites to force them to come," he says.

Sharansky thinks his fellow emigres are hungry for that kind of idealism. Alternatively, he allows, many will vote for him "because they're pissed off." If Sharansky's platform is short on quick fixes for their travails, at least a vote for him provides a chance to howl in protest.