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Home > Arabic Homepage > Jewish Refugees

JEWISH REFUGEES FROM ARAB LANDS

Prior to the establishment of Israel, more than 850,000 Jews lived in Arab countries. After Israel achieved independence, many of these Jews were persecuted by their governments and compelled to leave, despite having lived in some of their communities for more than 2,500 years.

Between 1948 and 1972, 820,000 Jews left Arab countries, 586,000 were resettled in Israel at great expense, and without any offer of compensation from the Arab governments who confiscated their possessions. Israel has consequently maintained that any agreement to compensate the Palestinian refugees must also include Arab compensation for Jewish refugees.

To this day, the Arab states have refused to pay any compensation to the hundreds of thousands of Jews who were forced to abandon their property before fleeing those countries. More than 100 of the roughly 700 UN resolutions on the Middle East conflict refer directly to Palestinian refugees. Not one mentions the Jewish refugees from Arab countries.

The number of Jews seeking refuge in Israel from 1948-1972

Morocco

260,000

Algeria

14,000

Tunisia

56,000

Libya

35,000

Egypt

89,525

Lebanon

6,000

Syria

4,500

Iraq

129,000

Yemen and Aden

50,552

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