[lit-ideas] Re: Jewish Refugees from Arab countries
- From: "Stan Spiegel" <writeforu2@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2004 18:51:08 -0400
Judith - Here's another link - out of 118,000 links - that discusses Jewish
Refugees. Omar will vehemently dislike this one too...Stan Spiegel
* * *
Arab & Jewish Refugees
The UN partition plan of 1947 was rejected by all the Arab countries. Arab
leadership in Israel and in the countries surrounding Israel, planned a
Jihad, holy war, against Israel and encouraged the Arabs to leave Israel
promising their return after they purge the land of Jews. The great majority
of Arabs left without ever seeing an Israeli soldier (see article and Arab
sources that describe what happened during the war of 1948 that caused the
Palestinian refugee problem).
During 1940's through 1950's nearly ALL the Jews had to flee from Arab
countries to avoid persecution and pogroms. The number of Jewish refugees
from Arab countries is estimated to be a million. This number is greater
than the number of Arab refugees who left Israel in 1948, estimated as
343,000 (see Peters' book cited below).
Most of the Jewish refugees from Arab countries rapidly integrated into the
modern society of Israel. This, despite the fact that Israel is a tiny
country (about size of New Jersey) without any of the world's richest
resources of petroleum in Arab countries. Today, the majority of the people
in Israel are the descendants of Jews from Arab countries. (European Jews
and their descendants constitute less than half the population of Israel).
The development of the Jewish community under British mandate led to
economic growth in the region providing job opportunities for Arab workers.
Consequently, the Arab population of Palestine swelled by the influx of Arab
immigrants from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and other Arab countries until 1947
(The trend of Arab migration into Israel to find a job continues to the
present day). While the British forces limited Jewish immigration, they
allowed free entry of Arab migrants. The UN agency UNRWA defined a
"Palestinian refugee", as any Arab who stayed in the country for two years
prior to 1948. Thus, UNRWA included in their statistics migrant workers
greatly swelling the ranks of so called "Palestinian refugees" (for best
reference on the subject see: From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the
Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine by Joan Peters).
Arab refugee problem was created by the seven Arab countries that attacked
Israel in 1948. Arab refugees were intentionally not integrated into the
Arab lands to which they fled, despite the fact total territory of Arab
countries is about 700 times greater than that of Israel. Out of about
100,000,000 refugees since World War II, theirs is the only refugee group in
the world that has not been absorbed into their own peoples' lands. Arab
nations still maintain generations of the descendants of the refugees in so
called "refugee camps" under squalid conditions with the hope that someday
they will dislodge the Jews in Israel. The money spent by the Arab countries
on armaments would be sufficient to build houses for all so called
"refugees". Arab countries should be encouraged to care for their poor
population instead of spending their richest resources in the world on
armaments and development of terrorist groups such as Osama Bin Laden from
Saudi Arabia.
Since 1948, after three generations the descendants of the Arab refugees are
still called "refugees" and are supported by UN "refugee" funds! With the
highest birth rate in Arab countries this population has now grown to about
four million. In negotiations, Arab leadership requests the "right of
return" of this mass of millions into the tiny land of Israel. The
settlement of millions of Arabs in Israel would immediately eliminate Israel
as a Jewish state. This is the real aim of the Arab countries, to achieve by
supposedly "peaceful" means what they could not achieve by unceasing
violence in whole scale wars and daily terrorism.
The responsibility for keeping the Arab population who are descendants of
the Arab refugees, rests only on the shoulders of the Arab countries that
created the problem by attacking Israel in 1948.
Quote from Ralph Galloway, a former head of the UN Relief and Works Agency
for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), in Amman, capital of
Jordan, in August 1958:
"The Arab states do not want to solve the refugee problem. They want to keep
it as open sore, as an affront to the United Nations and as a weapon against
Israel. Arab leaders don't give a damn whether the refugees live or die."
Related resources:
Who cares about Palestinians?
Jewish Communities of the Middle East and the Maghreb
Jews, almost extinct in Egyptian city Alexandria
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stan Spiegel" <writeforu2@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, April 30, 2004 6:32 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Jewish Refugees from Arab countries
> Judith - Are you being literal in referring to the "total" absence of Jews
> in Arab countries or are you being reasonable?
>
> I plugged this into google: "Jewish Refugees from Arab countries" - and
this
> was only the first thing that I got: There are many, many other links to
> explore.
>
> And this is what was written:.....
>
> "The American Sephardi Federation (ASF), in cooperation with the
government
> of Israel and other organizations, is leading an effort to document the
> property and possessions left behind by Jews who were forced to flee Arab
> countries and to chronicle their experience. To create an enduring record
of
> this historic injustice, ASF seeks far-reaching support.
>
> The Jewish Refugees From Arab Countries
> The expulsion and exodus of approximately 900,000 Jews from Arab countries
> is among the most significant yet little known injustices of the past
> century. For hundreds of years Jews lived in countries such as Algeria,
> Egypt, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, Iran, Iraq and Yemen; the
> presence of Jews in many of these countries dates back millennia. From the
> seventh century on, special laws of the Dhimmi (the "protected"), later
> known as the Covenant of Omar, subjected the Jews of the Middle East and
> North Africa to prohibitions, restrictions and discrimination and the
> harshest condition of inferiority. Certain Jews did manage to prosper
> despite these circumstances.
>
> Mistreatment of Jews in Arab countries took a dramatic turn for the worse
in
> 1948 after the birth of the State of Israel. Between the 1940s and 1980s,
> the Jews of Arab countries endured humiliation, discrimination, human
rights
> abuses, organized persecution and expulsion by the governments of the
> countries of their origin. Jewish property was seized without
compensation,
> Jewish quarters were sacked and looted, and cemeteries were desecrated.
> Synagogues, Jewish shops, schools and houses were ransacked, burned and
> destroyed, and hundreds of Jews were murdered in savage antisemitic riots
> and pogroms. Of the almost 900,000 Jewish refugees from Arab countries,
> approximately 600,000 sought refuge in the State of Israel and were
> resettled there at great expense. To this day, the Arab states have
refused
> to pay any compensation to the hundreds of thousands of Jews who were
forced
> to abandon their homes, businesses and possessions as they fled those
> countries.
>
> Project Background and Context
> Last March, through its Justice Minister Meir Sheetrit, Israel formally
> announced a joint initiative in partnership with the American Sephardi
> Federation to develop a comprehensive database of claims for approximately
> 900,000 Jews who were displaced and lost property and other assets. It is
> estimated that these claims are likely to tally tens of billions of
dollars.
> Several thousand claims were successfully compiled in 1969, and today the
> original documents that support those claims are sorely in need of
> preservation.
>
> Although considerable attention has been given to claims of Arabs
displaced
> during Israel's 1948 War of Independence, the world has heard very little
> about the displacement and suffering of Jews from Arab lands. The issue of
> compensation for these Jews finally gained some formal support after
former
> President Bill Clinton spoke in July 2000 of establishing a compensation
> fund.
>
> The Joint Project and Documentary Film
> The aging generation of Jewish refugees who can tell the world what they
> endured during their flight from Arab lands and can produce documentary or
> testimonial evidence in support of their claims is dwindling. With their
> passage, crucial evidence and eyewitness testimony will be lost forever.
> Time is of the essence. Hence, within the next few months the American
> Sephardi Federation aims to:
>
> 1) Reach out to claimants through synagogues, associations, community
> groups, campuses, and media advertisements to facilitate the distribution
> and completion of claims. The claims questionnaire is now available on the
> ASF website (www.asfonline.org), and multi-lingual versions will soon be
> available.
> 2) Collect as many new claims as possible and preserve the thousands of
> deteriorating claims to document and chronicle the extent of losses,
> dislocation, abuse and anguish of the Jewish refugees from Arab contries.
> The names of individuals will be held in confidence if so desired.
> 3) Develop an information database structure for the storage and
> organization of claims records and supporting material.
> 4) Create a professional documentary film that relates the history of
> displaced Jews through narrative testimonials, photographs, maps, and
other
> informational vehicles.
> 5) Raise public awareness about the issue through a variety of means,
> including the publication of important facts from the database, the
> distribution of a documentary film and traveling exhibit on the subject,
and
> the communication of the issue to the public through mass media, the
> internet, letters to Sephardic organizations and editors, advertisements
and
> other campaigns.
>
> To document and publicize these facts, and to address this historic
> injustice, the ASF will need far-reaching support, financial and
otherwise,
> from the Jewish community at large and from individuals who can chronicle
> the extent of the tragedy of Jewish refugees from Arab countries.
>
>
> Home | ASF | Sephardic House | Israel Ministry of Justice
>
> © 2004 American Sephardi Federation with Sephardic House
>
> Reproduction of material without written permission is strictly
prohibited.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Judith Evans" <judithevans001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Friday, April 30, 2004 2:12 PM
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Vanunu's Secret
>
>
> > Stan Spiegel
> > >tired of Omar's condescending self-righteousness
> >
> > who isn't?
> >
> > -- but I believe he is correct to say you're wrong about the total
absence
> > of Jews in these countries.
> >
> > Judy Evans
> > jaye@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Stan Spiegel
> > Sent: 30 April 2004 04:32
> > To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Vanunu's Secret
> >
> >
> > "Will you provide
> > evidence that 22 Arab countries are "virulently
> > Jew-hating?" Omar asks.
> >
> > Yes Omar:
> >
> > I can provide evidence that they are Jew-hating. Check how many Jews
live
> in
> > those 22 Arab countries. Every single Jew -- every one -- has been
> evicted,
> > thrown out or killed. There are simply no Jews in any of those
> countries.Not
> > one. Compare that to the number of Palestinians who live in Israel.
> >
> > The tolerance for Jews is in direct proportion to how many live in each
> Arab
> > country. Google that!
> >
> > Stan Spiegel
> > tired of Omar's condescending self-righteousness
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Omar Kusturica" <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx>
> > To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2004 10:04 PM
> > Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Vanunu's Secret
> >
> >
> > > --- JulieReneB@xxxxxxx wrote:
> > > > <<1." Israel is not a member of the NPT". >>
> > > > Are you equating Israel with North Korea, e.g., in
> > > > relationship to its level
> > > > of threat?
> > >
> > > *No, I am not "equating Israel with North Korea". I
> > > believe Israel is a much greater threat.
> > >
> > > If you believe Israel's level of threat
> > > > to be anything but
> > > > *defensive* and in proportion to the level of threat
> > > > that surround it, please give me
> > > > evidence of the peace making going on in the 22
> > > > virulently Jew-hating Arab
> > > > countries poised on Israel's flanks.
> > >
> > > *I told you, a number of countries have diplomatic
> > > relations, nobody is thinking about attacking Israel.
> > > But that will not obviusly make it through your
> > > primitive prejudices, which you further posit as a
> > > priori true unless proven otherwise. Will you provide
> > > evidence that 22 Arab countries are "virulently
> > > Jew-hating" ?
> > >
> > > > <<2. "It has a recent history of aggression against
> > > > other countries, an
> > > > on-going pattern of violent behavior, and general
> > > > defiance of international norms
> > > > and opinion." >>
> > > >
> > > > The Arab countries threatening Israel have initiated
> > > > 5 wars and aided in two
> > > > 'Intifadas'.
> > >
> > > *If you believe that Arab countries initiated 5 wars,
> > > you need to start reading less of those blogs and more
> > > history. Some general education is a requirement,
> > > after all.
> > >
> > > Allow me to supply a definition from
> > > > the 'Non-apologist's
> > > > Dictionary of ---'Intifada'.--- A bloody uprising by
> > > > terrorists aimed at murdering
> > > > and maiming *soft targets*: children, women and the
> > > > elderly. The targets of
> > > > the Intifada are randomly chosen without
> > > > consideration of threat level.
> > >
> > > *The above is contradictory.
> > >
> > > Omar, are you serious? Do you really believe that
> > > Israel is standing
> > > there
> > > waving the saber of nuclear warfare at the hostile
> > > Arab countries that
> > > surround
> > > it? Israel's nuclear weapons, as you well know, are
> > > purely defensive.
> > >
> > > *Who says ? You could not even quote an official
> > > statement to that effect.
> > >
> > > If you
> > > > really want me to go into international norms and
> > > > opinions I would be happy to.
> > > > Would you like me to start with on-going slavery, or
> > > > the attitude of general
> > > > anti-semitism as evidenced by the wide spread
> > > > acceptance of the 'Protocols of
> > > > the Elders of Zion' and general 'conspiracy
> > > > paranoia' that pervades most
> > > > inter-Arab discussion of Israel in the MiddleEast.
> > >
> > > *What evidence do you have of "wide spread
> > > acceptance of the 'Protocols of the Elders of
> > > Zion'"? How is this anything about hostile stereotypes
> > > ?
> > >
> > > >
> > > > Re. the Jewish lobby whose enormous power in America
> > > > worries you so, to me it
> > > > speaks more to paranoid delusions of Jewish
> > > > omnipotence than it does any
> > > > actual power by Jewish lobbying groups. The
> > > > Evangelical Christian block might be
> > > > one to worry more about.
> > >
> > > *Actually, I mentioned the evangelical block, but you
> > > don't listen. Anyway, further discussion would be
> > > pointless, as your assertions are supported by
> > > personal insults instead of arguments. Good to see
> > > that the tender lady act was all pretense from the
> > > start.
> > >
> > > O.K.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > __________________________________
> > > Do you Yahoo!?
> > > Win a $20,000 Career Makeover at Yahoo! HotJobs
> > > http://hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/careermakeover
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