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The vanishing Jews of the Arab world
SFGate ^ | 3-8-05 | Semha Alwaya

Posted on 03/08/2005 5:05:49 AM PST by SJackson

In discussions about refugees in the Middle East, a major piece of the narrative is routinely omitted, and my life is part of the tapestry of what's missing. I am a Jew, and I, too, am a refugee. Some of my childhood was spent in a refugee camp in Israel (yes, Israel). And I am far from being alone.

This experience is shared by hundreds of thousands of other indigenous Jewish Middle Easterners who share a similar background to my own. However, unlike the Palestinian Arabs, our narrative is largely ignored by the world because our story -- that of some 900,000 Jewish refugees from Arab countries dispossessed by Arab governments -- is an inconvenience for those who seek to blame Israel for all the problems in the Middle East.

Our lives in the Israel of the 1950s were difficult. We had no money, no property; there were food shortages, few employment prospects. Israel was a new and poor country with very limited resources. It absorbed not only hundreds of thousands of us, but also an equal number of survivors of Hitler's genocide. We lived in dusty tents in "transit camps," their official name because these were to be temporary, not permanent.

Housing was eventually built for us, we became Israeli citizens, and we ceased being refugees. The refugee camps in Israel that I knew as a child were phased out, and no trace of them remains. Israel did this without receiving a single cent from the international community, relying instead on the resourcefulness of its citizens and donations from Diaspora Jewish communities. Today, many of Israel's top leaders are from families that were forced to flee Arab countries, and we make up more than half of Israel's Jewish population.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Israel
KEYWORDS: arabworld; islam; jews; muslims; nonmuslims
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1 posted on 03/08/2005 5:05:51 AM PST by SJackson
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To: SJackson

I've read that Morocco & Jordan still have Jewish communities.


2 posted on 03/08/2005 5:09:40 AM PST by sukhoi-30mki
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To: dennisw; Cachelot; Yehuda; Nix 2; veronica; Catspaw; knighthawk; Alouette; Optimist; weikel; ...
If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.
3 posted on 03/08/2005 5:10:51 AM PST by SJackson ( Bush is as free as a bird, He is only accountable to history and God, Ra'anan Gissin)
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To: SJackson

Where's Pat Buchanan on this? Oh, yeah, he's hanging with his new best bud Howard Dean.


4 posted on 03/08/2005 5:13:48 AM PST by WestVirginiaRebel (Carnac: A siren, a baby and a liberal. Answer: Name three things that whine.)
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To: SJackson
Reading the history of Muhammad, and the butchering of the Arab Tribe in Medina after they dared to confront him, one understands the Arab view toward the Jews.

Muhammad had his followers bow towards Jerusalem - not Mecca - for almost 18 months, believing that the home of God. But as in today's world, the Arab 'believers' change anything they deem necessary in order to win their battles, er 'goals'.
5 posted on 03/08/2005 5:18:25 AM PST by txzman (Jer 23:29)
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To: SJackson

What about passing this along to our Federal Legislators?

Do they just not know, or do they just not WANT to know?


6 posted on 03/08/2005 5:18:33 AM PST by HighlyOpinionated (Progressives are little "Saul Alinsky" disciples.)
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To: sukhoi-30mki
I've read that Morocco & Jordan still have Jewish communities.

Very small. And the funny thing is that the Jewish communities in almost all of these places antedated the Muslim Arabs by many hundreds of years.
7 posted on 03/08/2005 5:26:06 AM PST by aruanan
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To: Salem; IAF ThunderPilot; anotherview; American in Israel; Yehuda; M 91 u2 K; Nachum; dennisw

Ping!


8 posted on 03/08/2005 5:26:11 AM PST by Convert from ECUSA (tired of all the shucking and jiving)
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To: SJackson

Flag is out early today.


9 posted on 03/08/2005 5:28:36 AM PST by cynicom (<p)
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To: SJackson
Israel did this without receiving a single cent from the international community, relying instead on the resourcefulness of its citizens and donations from Diaspora Jewish communities.

As an American taxpayer, I resent this remark. We've sent more money to Israel than any other nation.

10 posted on 03/08/2005 5:36:31 AM PST by Carry_Okie (There are people in power who are really stupid.)
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To: SJackson
Have you ever heard any liberal scumbag mentioning JEWS when speaking of THE RIGHT OF RETURN of Palestinian Arabs?

They advocate the "right" to return of Arabs who were not born in Mandate of Palestine and whose parents or grandparents were not born there.

Yassir Arafat was a poster boy of this travesty.


11 posted on 03/08/2005 5:46:36 AM PST by DTA
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To: SJackson

The Israelis should make a huge deal of this, and demand "right of return" and reparations etc., from the islamofascists.

This would help them in winning the war of ideas that is far more important than tanks bulldozing houses.


12 posted on 03/08/2005 5:49:17 AM PST by tkathy (Tyranny breeds terrorism. Freedom breeds peace.)
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To: Carry_Okie

not during the 1950s when it was most needed....
Granted now US helps a lot but back then noone cared.


13 posted on 03/08/2005 5:52:14 AM PST by eluminate
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To: Carry_Okie
As an American taxpayer, I resent this remark. We've sent more money to Israel than any other nation.

*****************

It's true that the US has been a supporter of Israel, but I believe the author is speaking of the 1950s, which may have predated our contributions.

14 posted on 03/08/2005 5:55:45 AM PST by trisham
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To: eluminate
Granted now US helps a lot but back then noone cared.

How myopic. America had just FREED them by expending its blood and money to defeat the Nazis. They supported the creation of Israel as a top priority in the UN. There was a minor matter of Korea and Soviet nuclear weapons occupying us at the time.

Get a grip.

15 posted on 03/08/2005 6:00:53 AM PST by Carry_Okie (There are people in power who are really stupid.)
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Comment #16 Removed by Moderator

To: cynicom
Flag is out early today.

I'm sure you'll make it through the day.

Thanks for reminging us that Jew obsessives are as much a part of the right, even Freerepublic, as they are of the left.

17 posted on 03/08/2005 6:40:45 AM PST by SJackson ( Bush is as free as a bird, He is only accountable to history and God, Ra'anan Gissin)
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Comment #18 Removed by Moderator

To: SJackson

Yall are slow today. Hope you not ill or something such.


19 posted on 03/08/2005 6:47:42 AM PST by cynicom (<p)
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To: cynicom
Flag is out early today.

Please find another hobby.

20 posted on 03/08/2005 6:49:11 AM PST by Admin Moderator
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