Justice For Jews From Arab Countries--And A Challenge

Israel At Level Ground has an interesting post on the issue of Google Earth providing close-up views of sensitive military sites in Israel. The interesting part is what he quotes from an article in YNet News:

Here's an item in Ynet News about Palestinians using the service to commemorate villages throughout Israel. From the story, an intriguing suggestion:

"The Palestinian surfer, seems to be quite a moderate person. In the Google Earth forum, one of the surfers asked him: "There were hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees who were forced to escape their homes in Arab states at the same time… maybe their property should also be documented, in order to maintain balance?"

And Darby replied: "I agree with you 100 percent. I wish I had time to document the Jewish residence in the Arab world, but I don't. I would be happy to see someone taking this project upon himself."

Nu? Anyone ready, able and willing to take up the challenge?

Here is one of those comments you can find when you zoom in on Israel and click on the graphic--shaped like a notepad (click to enlarge)


According to the article, Darby has documented hundreds of villages.

So, who does stand up for Jews who were forced to flee from their homes in Arab countries?

There is a group called Justice for Jews From Arab Countries:

Founding

Founded in 2002, Justice for Jews from Arab Countries (JJAC) is a coalition of major Jewish communal organizations operating under the auspices of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the American Sephardi Federation in conjunction with the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress, Anti-Defamation League, B’nai Brith International, the Jewish Public Council for Public Affairs and the World Sephardic Congress.

Mission Statement

To ensure that justice for Jews from Arab countries assumes its rightful place on the international political and judicial agenda and that their rights be secured as a matter of law and equity.

Check out their Project Description.

There is an article about the International Rights and Redress Campaign which was held last October in Jerusalem, which notes that

Jewish groups have estimated that since 1948 at least 900,000 Jews have been forced to leave their homes in Arab countries such as Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. At least 600,000 went to Israel. The rest sought sanctuary in France, Britain, the United States and other countries.

The expressed goal of the summit was to "identify, register and document vast property claims of Jewish refugees from Arab countries."

In The American Thinker, Andrew Bostom--whose book The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism will be available next month--has written an article giving the background on these Jewish communities and how they were forced to leave.

Bostom also writes about a special hearing that was held by the Congressional Human Rights Caucus on July 19th regarding hundreds of the thousands of Jews who were forced to flee their homes in Arab countries. A transcript [PDF] of that meeting is available, and a video is available online [note: there is static until the meeting starts at 4:20]. Among those who testified was Dr. Howard M. Sachar, who gave historical background.

Bostom also notes 2 resolutions, House Resolution 185 and Senate Resolution 85.

Under the proposed legislation, the US president would be required to instruct all official representatives of the United States that "explicit reference to Palestinian refugees be matched by a similar explicit reference to Jewish and other refugees, as a matter of law and equity."

However, according to GovTrack.us, neither Senate Resolution 85 nor House Resolution 185 has made any progress past their initial introduction on February 16, 2007.

There is also a blog dedicated to Jewish refugees--Point of No Return. When you check out the blog, scroll down to the label section: there are links to collections of posts on Jewish communities in various Arab Muslim countries as well as Jewish refugees from those countries as well. Through one post on Point of No Return, I found an article, The Other Right of Return, by Khaled Diab, an Egyptian journalist living in Brussels.

Interest in the issue of Jewish refugees who were forced to flee from Arab countries is a relatively new topic--even among Jews. We need to take action now to make their cause known, and acted upon.

Technorati Tag: Israel and Jewish Refugees.