FfJdoy, April 2, 1954
JEWISH W * STERN B U L L E T I N
Poge Seven
Plight of Jews in Arab World Worseiied in 1953 Says Woilfl Jowish Congress Report
NEW YORK — The status of Jews m the Arab world is ptetured as ahnost unrelievedly "dark" by the World Jewish Congress* Institute of Jewish Affairs, in an advance report on its new study, "Survey of Events in Jewish Life in 1953," which will be published shortly.
Galling attention to recent*; political upheavals in Egypt and
Syria, the new survey declares that a variety of factors are continuing to make tiie Arab countries hazardous not only .for their own Jewish populations, but also for people throughout the world. Factors making the Middle Eagt "one of the most dangerous powder kegs of the world," the report asserts are: l*the internal instability of the political regimes; the awakening of the populations who refuse, or at least begin ' to show signs of refusing, to accept the abject poverty that has been their loi for centuries; intensified Communist propa-ganada; the. artificially inflated ultra-nationalism and xenophobia; the^'disastprous war with Israel; the lack of leadership; and the absence of b r o a d groups willing and capable of initiating and carrying thr-ough overdue reforms."
"Ultra-^nationalism and xenophobia" on the part of the Arab nations are principally responsible for the deterioration of the Jewish position in the Middle East today, the study asserts. 'Instead of constructive work to solve the ills besetting the Arab states, the politicians divert the attention of the population from their plight by making Israel, foreigners and the Jews the scapegoats for all the misfortunes which are their lot. Unix's IRIs "trend is revei?ised, the total liquidation of the Jewish communities in the countries of the Arab League is unavoidabler"
A country-by-cpuntry analysis of the plight of the Jews in the Middle East reveals the following highlights:
1. Only 5,000-6,000 Jews now remain in Syria, out of a total Jewish population in 1943 of 30, 000. Persecution, which began tin 1945, accounts for the exodus. Those Jews who still remain in Syria are there mainly because of the official prohibition of Jewish emigration. By and large, these people are destitute and completely dependent upon relief from abroad and local charity.
2. The Jewish community of Iraq, which numbered about 130, 000 before the Arab-Israel war, has now dwindled to some 5,000 persons.
3v Libya's Jewish population in 1937 was 30,000; today it numbers below 3,000. The population shift came about from emigration motivated by persecution and apprehension over Libya's estal>lish-ment as an independent Arab state.
4. Of approximately 8 0,000 Jews who lived in Egypt in 1948, only 45,000 are l^t. Despite re-
cent signs of amity toward Jews displayed by General Naguib,:the Jews of Egypt, the study says, "are apprehensive of their future in a country dedicated to fighting foreigners, foreign powers and Israel.".
The Jewries of Iraq, Syria and Libya, the report continues, "have apparently no prospects for survival, even on a modest scale.
Turning to a f e w relatively brighter areas for the Jewish populations in the Middle East, the study cites conditions in Le-. banon, Morocco and Tunisia as being less tense than in other Arab nations, but nontheless deteriorating. Lebanon has been the only Arab state which has thus far avoided the pattern of liquid-
Home Grown Coffee for Israel
REHOYOT—^After eight years of poinstoking tests the first coffee beans were grown here early this yeor^ for the first time in o Mediterroneon country. A corps of Israeli sceentists, headed by Dr. Israel Gindel, at the Government Agricultural Station here, successfully acclimated a high-quality coffee bean plant to o Middle East environment. (The some task has been ottempted in some of the surrounding states with no results). The cultiva-tion of coffee |n Israel will mean on annual saving of several hundred thousand dollars in foreign currency. It is anothef effort financed by State of Israel Bond investments.
REPORT ON CONFERENCE OF JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA
LONDON
(W.J.A.)
_ '-English language report on the ation of Jewish communities. Des^,Congress of delegates of the Jew-piteanumberof recent ommous.Religious Communities held portents - including anti-JewiSh \^ p ^„ 22nd November 1953>,
propaganda in the Lebanese Par- ^^^^j,^ ^j^^ ^^^j^ j^^.^^ ^^^^ hament - observers feel that g^^^^ information Department in
London from Prague in the third week of February.
The report describes the Conference alternatively as one of the 'Council of Jewish Communities in Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia' and of the 'Jewish Religious Community in the Czech Regions'. Advance notices in the Czech monthly of the organization, 'Vestnik', last November spoke of Jewish communities in nine districts of Bohemia and .Moravia,- to be covered.by anew constitution to be adopted by the Conference. The report now to hand refers to "representatives of all Jewish Religious Co^nmunities from all thirteen regions of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia" assembled in Prague. It claims that for the first time in the history of Bohemian and Moravian Jewry, the structure of the Jewish Religious Community was given a new stnd stable organization. Whereas, thus far, each individual Jewish Religious Community represented an independent body and ties between these communities existed only in a loose form or not at all, now all communities are united by a sole central organ elected to represent the entire Jewry, the Council of Jewish Religious Communities." HOW MANY JEWS ARE THERE?
No details of the number of Jewish religious communities at present existing in the "thirteen regions of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia" are given, nor can figures of their membership or of the number of Jews at present living n these areas be traced in the report submitted to the Conference by Dr. Rudolf litis, the secretary of the organization. He
Lebanon may not embark on a full-scale persecution of the Jews unless forced to do so by fellow members of the Arab League.
In French Morocco and Tunisia the study continues, *the Arabs are not the masters of the $cene. The majority of the. Moroccan Jewish population are* destitute unskilled persons. "The program of vocational retraining initiated >y Jewish organizations f.rom abroad," the report states, "cannot produce appreciable results soon, except to better prepare the youth for possible resettlement in srael. The local population has always been antagonistic, and the only influential friend of the Jews has been the Pasha of Marrakesh, El Glaoui, who has become the most powerful figure in French Morocco."
The Jews of Tunisia, who form an important segment of the country's intellectual, business and professional population, have friend in the Bey. Early in 1953, under pressure' from the Arab League, the Nationalists launched an anti-Jewish, boycott which made inroads on the economic position of the Jews. This boycott, however, has relaxed and the Tunisian Nationalist Party dissociated itself on several occasions from anti-Jewish excesses which, they asserted, were the work of irresponsible elements. The Party even went so far, as to provide, some compensation for the material damage which the Jews suffered as a result of the violence.
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An makes no reference to past activities of Jewish communal organizations and deals exclusively with the danger of neo-Fascism and neo-Nazism in Western Europe, calling for a "fight for peace, and against fascism to strengthen -the peace front united around the Soviet Union."
The new ^Constitution of Jewish Religious Communities in the Czech Regions', adopted by "a demonstrative show of hands", provides that "with approval of the Council", Jewish Communities may be established wherever ten Jews reside. Each person of Jewish faith who resides permanently in the district of the Jewish Community, is its member, and, if registered as such, and in possession of his civic electoral rights, entitled to active and passive electoral rights in regard to the organs of the Jewish community at the age of eighteen.
PATTERN OF RELIGIOUS LIFE
The Jewish religious community, according to the new Constitution, has "equal rights with all other churches on the territory of the Czechoslovak Republic and develops its religious activity in agreement with the principles of the Peoples Republic Democratic Order and the laws of the Republic." The Council of Jewish Religious Communities, among other things, "takes care that Jewish religious life develops in harmony with the principles of
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YOUTH ALIYAH PROGRAM ON 'ETERNAL LIGHT'
"Children Of Liberty," written by Marc Siegel, will be presented on the Eternal Light radio program on Sunday, April 4, 9.30 .m. to 10.00 a.m. KOMO Seattle, m observance of world Jewish Child's Day and the twentieth anniversary of the founding of Youth Aliyah.
"Children Of Liberty," is the story of Youth Aliyah, an organization founded twenty years ago with the purpose of aiding displaced and homeless children all over the world to find a new home and a new life in Israel. Young victims of war and disaster are rehabilitated, and learn to find leir places as tomorrow's leaders.''
'Canadianism or MeCorfhyisni' is Topic of Meeting
Roscoe S. Rodd, QC, of Windsor, will speak at a public meeting on Sunday evening, April 4, 8 p.m., at the Pender Auditorium, 339 West Pender St. His subject will be "Canadianism or Mc-Carthyism." Mr. Rodd is National Chairman of the League for Democratic Rights.
Sharing the platform will be Dr. Barnett Savery, of the Department of Philosophy, University of British Columbia; Stanley Wilcox, President of the Street Railwaymen's Union; and Jack Phillips, secretary of the Vancouver Branch of the LDR.
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the Peoples' Democratic Order". It ^''arranges for the enrolment of rabbis, preacher's assistants, teachers of religion", and keeps "the central files of. members of Jewish communities, committees. Officials, institutions, personal and eal property, assets and liabilities, endowments, etc." Religious matters are "managed by the Chief Rabbi of Prague and the Council of Rabbis."
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