Thursday, October 25, 2007

1948: The Forgotten Middle East Refugees

From Artuz Sheva:
U.N. Documents Show Arab Collusion against Jews

United Nations documents dating from 1948 revealing collusion against Jews by Arab countries are to be shown at a conference next week of Justice of Jews from Arab countries. Former Canadian Justice Irwin Cotler will release the information at the beginning of a summit of 40 delegates of "forgotten Jewish refugees" displaced from eight Arab countries.

More than one million Jews have been displaced from Arab countries, where human rights violations have gone virtually unnoticed. American Congressmen are considering resolutions that require the plight of Jews from Arab countries to be raised along with the claim by Arabs of millions of refugees from families who fled Israel in the War of Independence in 1948. Arab countries encouraged them to leave, promising they would return after the annihilation of the new Jewish state.
It's not too clear just what kind of collusion they are talking about here. However, if you go to the website for Justice For Jews From Arab Countries, there is a press release in PDF format which clarifies:
NEWLY-DISCOVERED DOCUMENTS FROM U.N. ARCHIVES REVEAL COLLUSION AMONG ARAB COUNTRIES IN 1948 TO PERSECUTE JEWS IN STRUGGLE AGAINST ISRAEL

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Shira Dicker (917.403.3989)

New York City (October 23, 2007) - They have been called the 'forgotten refugees' of the Middle East but after a landmark summit and press conference in New York early next month, the narrative and plight of displaced Jews from Arab lands will be difficult to forget.

On Nov. 4 -5, 2007, 40 delegates from 8 countries and 5 cities across the United States will travel thousands of miles to attend the groundbreaking New York Summit, organized by Justice for Jews from Arab Countries (JJAC).

The highlight of JJAC's New York Summit will be a press conference on Monday, November 5th at the offices of the American Jewish Committee (165 East 56th St. Manhattan, 12:30pm). At the conference, the Hon. Irwin Cotler, former Justice Minister of Canada, will release documents from 1948, recently discovered in U.N. archives, that reveal collusion among Arab countries to use their Jewish populations as virtual hostages in their struggle against the creation of the State of Israel.
There is also a media kit available at the site that features:
Here is a sample of some of the information provided in the documentation:



Facts on Middle East Refugees

• For over 2,500 years, Jews in substantial numbers resided in areas that are today Arab countries (e.g. Egypt, Algeria, Iraq, etc.) – fully 1,000 years before the advent of Islam.

• The exodus of Jewish refugees from Arab countries occurred mainly between 1940s and the 1970s. In fact, there were more Jews displaced from Arab countries (856,000)1 than there were Palestinians who became refugees as a result of the 1948 Arab Israeli war (726,000)2.

From 1948 to 1958 97% of all Jews that were living in Arab countries had been uprooted, either due to government sponsored anti Jewish decrees or the hostile political, social and economic climate created there.

• More than $100 billion3 of Jewish individual and communal assets were confiscated by Arab Governments.

• On two separate occasions the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) ruled that Jews fleeing from Arab countries were indeed ‘bona fide’ refugees who “fall under the mandate of my (UNHCR) office”.4 The statistics are stark: 856,000 Jews from Arab countries in 1948 – reduced to 7,800 in 2001.

• Since 1947, the United Nations General Assembly’s predominant focus has been on Palestinian refugees:
a) 681 resolutions on the Middle East conflict, including 101 resolutions on Palestinian refugees;
b) Numerous UN agencies and organizations mandated or newly created to provide protection and relief to Palestinian refugees; and
c) Over the last 58 years, tens of billions of dollars have been disbursed by the international community to provide services and assistance to Palestinian refugees.

• During that same period, there were no UN resolutions; no support provided by UN agencies; nor any financial assistance forthcoming from the international community to ameliorate the plight of Jewish and other refugees from Arab countries.

• In all relevant international bilateral or multilateral agreements, (i.e. UN Resolution 242, The Road Map, The Madrid Conference, etc.), the reference to ‘refugees’ is generic, allowing for the recognition and inclusion of all Middle East refugees - Jews, Christians and other minorities.

1 Estimates based on UN document “Trends and Characteristics of International Migration since 1950 – Refugee Movements and Population Transfers” (UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs, Demographic Study No. 64 ST/ESA/Ser. A/64).

2 United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine, P. 18; United Nations. Annual Report of the Director Genera of UNWRA, Doc. 5224/5223. 25 November 1952

3 World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries

4 Mr. Auguste Lindt, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Report of the UNREF Executive Committee, Fourth Session – Geneva 29 January to 4 February, 1957; and Dr. E. Jahn, Office of the UN High Commissioner, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Document No. 7/2/3/Libya, July 6, 1967.
Check out the Justice for Jews site.

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