Letter of American Antifascist Association Concerning Jewish Refugees From Arab Countries

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American Antifascist Association
of Immigrants from the Former USSR (AAAI)
30 Washington St., Suite 6A, Brighton, MA 02135
Tel. (617) 739-2354; e-mail iosifll@comcast.net

An Appeal to the General Secretary of the United Nations
and to Heads of State concerning Jewish refugees from Arab countries

The American Antifascist Association of Immigrants from the Former U.S.S.R. (AAAI) asks you for your recognition of an important historical injustice – that of 700,000 Jews forcibly evicted from their homes in Arab lands.
On the eve of the 1947 United Nations Resolution to establish a Jewish state in Palestine, discrimination against Jews in Arab countries became much harsher. Properties of Jews were seized, Jews were dismissed from their jobs, their synagogues and cemeteries were desecrated, and there were outright murders of Jewish citizens.
As a result, hundreds of thousands of Jews were forced to leave their homes and immigrate mostly to Israel. 120,000 Jewish Iraqis, whose forebears had lived in that land for 2,000 years, were allowed the following when they left for Israel: $16 if they were over age 20; $10 if they were between 12 and 20, and $6 if they were under 12. 46,000 Yemenite Jews had to trek several hundred miles on foot to the Yemenite capital, Aden, many falling ill on the arduous journey before being met by Jewish-sponsored planes that transported them to Israel. The property they had left in Yemen was confiscated and plundered.
These scenarios were typical of the experience of Jews fleeing other Arab countries.
Meanwhile, Arab propaganda in Palestine convinced the half million Arabs there to leave their homes for a few days while Arab armies destroyed the small Jewish country and drowned all of the Jews in the sea.
As is well known, on the day of Israel’s Independence, May 14, 1948, armies of six Arab countries attacked the Jewish state. Tel Aviv was bombarded by Egyptian planes. However, despite the hardships of the early days of the Jewish state, Israel absorbed all the Jewish refugees forced from Arab lands.
Quite to the contrary, Arab countries, with territories hundreds of times greater than Israel’s did nothing to help Arab refugees. Even today these refugees and their descendants live in camps supported by billions of United Nations dollars. Instead of helping the refugees establish normal lives and infrastructure, the Arab leaders, supported by the United Nations, relentlessly demand that Israel absorb millions of Arab refugees.
Yet the 700,000 Jewish refugees and their multi-billion dollars worth property forcibly left behind have been forgotten.
The United States House of Representatives adopted a Resolution on April 1, 2008 that recognized the rights of Jewish refugees from Arab lands forced to leave their homes after the state of Israel was established. The Resolution directs official representatives of the United States to include the matter of Jewish refugees from Arab countries in all Middle East negotiations.
We hope that you, too, will support this very important American resolution to restore the rights and property of Jewish refugees from Arab countries.

Sincerely,

AAAI President

Doctor Iosif Lakhman

posted by: jrtelegraph