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Jewish Exodus From Arab Lands




Many regard the Jewish exodus from Arab lands as a historical parallel to the Palestinian Exodus during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the Six-Day War , a comparison subject to enduring controversy.

'', May 16 , 1948 . Click to read an excerpt.]]


HISTORY OF JEWS IN ARAB LANDS (PRE-1948)

Excluding the region of Palestine , and omitting the accounts of Joseph and Moses as unverifiable, Jews have lived in what are now Arab states at least since the Babylonian Captivity ( 597 BCE ), about 2,600 years ago.

After the conquest of these lands by Arab Muslims, Jews, along with s and Physician s. Jewish communities, like Christian ones, were typically constituted as semi-autonomous entities managed by their own laws and leadership, who carried the responsibility for the community towards the Muslim rulers. Taxes and fines levied on them were collective in nature.

In 1945 there were between 758,000 and 866,000 Jews (see table below) living in communities throughout the Arab world. Today, there are fewer than 8,000. In some Arab states, such as Libya (which was once around 3 % Jewish), the Jewish community no longer exists; in other Arab countries, only a few hundred Jews remain.

1. Avneri, 1984, p. 276.

2. Stearns, 2001, p. 966.


JEWS FLEE ARAB STATES (1948-)

Beginning in the late 19th century, the Zionist movement led to an immigration of Jews to Ottoman -ruled Palestine (which did not exist as a distinctive administrative entity within the boundaries laid down later the British Mandate Of Palestine ), or more precisely in the Jerusalem Sanjak or district of southern Syria. Tensions arose between these immigrants (who transformed and expanded the pre-Zionist indigenous Jewish community) and the Palestinian Arabs; Pan-Arabism led to the Palestinian side of this conflict being taken up by other Arabs, including (from 1945 ) the Arab League .

After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War , the Palestinian Exodus , the creation of the state of Israel , and the independence of Arab countries from European control, conditions for Jews in the Arab world deteriorated. Over the next few decades, most would leave the Arab world. Their departure and its motivations are covered country by country below.


Morocco

See Also: History of the Jews in Morocco




REFERENCES

  • Avneri, Arieh (1984). ''Claim of Dispossession: Jewish Land-Settlement and the Arabs, 1878-1948''. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 0878559647

  • Cohen, Hayyim J. (1973). ''The Jews of the Middle East, 1860-1972'' Jerusalem, Israel Universities Press. ISBN 0470164247

  • Cohen, Mark (1995) ''Under Crescent and Cross'', Princeton, Princeton University Press.

  • De Felice, Renzo (1985). ''Jews in an Arab Land: Libya, 1835-1970''. Austin, University of Texas Press. ISBN 0292740166

  • Gat, Moshe (1997), ''The Jewish Exodus from Iraq, 1948-1951'' Frank Cass.

  • Gilbert, Sir Martin (1976). The Jews of Arab lands: Their history in maps. London. World Organisation of Jews from Arab Countries : Board of Deputies of British Jews. ISBN 0950132950

  • Gruen, George E. (1983) Tunisia's Troubled Jewish Community (New York: American Jewish Committee, 1983). ( ASIN B0006YCZQM)

  • Harris, David A. (2001). ''In the Trenches: Selected Speeches and Writings of an American Jewish Activist, 1979-1999''. KTAV Publishing House, Inc. ISBN 0881256935

  • Levin, Itamar (2001). ''Locked Doors: The Seizure of Jewish Property in Arab Countries''. Praeger/Greenwood. ISBN 0275971341

  • Lewis, Bernard (1984), ''The Jews of Islam''. Princeton. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0691008078

  • Nini, Yehuda (1992), ''The Jews of the Yemen 1800-1914''. Harwood Academic Publishers. ISBN 371865041X

  • Rejwan, Nissim (1985) ''The Jews of Iraq: 3000 Years of History and Culture'' London. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 0297787136

  • Roumani, Maurice (1977). ''The Case of the Jews from Arab Countries: A Neglected Issue'', Tel Aviv, World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries, 1977 and 1983 ( ASIN B0006EGL5I)

  • Schulewitz, Malka Hillel. (2001). ''The Forgotten Millions: The Modern Jewish Exodus from Arab Lands.'' London. ISBN 0826447643

  • Schulze, Kristen (2001) The Jews of Lebanon: Between Coexistance and Conflict. Sussex. ISBN 1902210646

  • Stearns, Peter N.

  • Stillman, Norman (1975). ''Jews of Arab Lands a History and Source Book''. Jewish Publication Society



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