International campaign seeks Justice for Jewish Refugees from Arab countries

A new international initiative has been launched this month with the purpose of publicizing and seeking redress for a refugee problem in the Middle East that has largely been ignored by the world community: Jewish refugees from Arab countries.

The project, titled International Rights and Redress Campaign, is being conducted by Justice for Jews from Arab Countries (JJAC) and its purpose is to publicize and document the losses suffered by Jewish refugees who fled Arab countries. Beginning in March, the campaign is intended to culminate during the 60th anniversary of Israel in 2008.

In support of the campaign, the Community Relations Committee (CRC) of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ convened a meeting of Jewish professionals in the MetroWest area on March 1. The meeting bought together area rabbis and leaders from Jewish organizations to teach them about the campaign and provide them with materials and with suggestions concerning how their own organizations can participate. The objective of the CRC is to create a “pyramid effect,” in which leaders will carry the message to and encourage the involvement of individuals throughout the area.

The International Rights and Redress Campaign will involve the participation of more than 20 Diaspora communities and 62 Jewish organizations on five continents. Its objectives are to conduct public education programs on the heritage and rights of former Jewish refugees from Arab countries, to register family history narratives, to catalogue communal and individual losses suffered by Jews displaced from Arab countries, and to gather evidence that could be used to support future claims for reparations.

At the beginning of the 20th century, more than one million Jews lived in Arab countries in North Africa, the Middle East, and the Gulf region. Over the course of the century, almost all were displaced. It is estimated that, today, fewer than 5,000 Jews remain in these countries.

All documentation collected regarding loss of assets, both communal and individual, under Arab regimes will be catalogued and preserved by a special unit in Israel’s Ministry of Justice, a unit established to compile the legal and factual basis needed to assert the rights of Jews displaced from Arab countries. Click here to complete the registration card.

The JJAC was created in 2002 and is a coalition of major Jewish organizations functioning under the auspices of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, the American Sephardi Federation, and the World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries in conjunction with other international Jewish organizations. Its mission statement dedicates the JJAC to insuring “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.”

For additional information, please visit the JJAC web site at www.justiceforjews.com.