Basta con le parole: Come recuperare I beni degli ebrei nei paesi arabi
Uri Zak
Sintesi personale
Il problema delle proprietà abbandonate dagli ebrei in tutto il Medio Oriente è stato a
lungo utilizzato da Israele come merce di scambio per controbilanciare le simili
rivendicazioni dei palestinesi . Se i Mizrahi israeliani vogliono sul serio sostenere questo, lo possono fare insieme ai Palestinesi ,onde evitare i tentativi populisti del governo nazionalista di creare un cuneo tra comunità
diverse e di farle diventare nemiche
E 'in questo contesto che dobbiamo valutare gli sforzi recentemente
lanciati del governo per recuperare le proprietà perduta dagli ebrei del
Medio Oriente.
Immediatamente dopo la fondazione dello Stato di Israele circa
800.000 ebrei, provenienti da tutto il Medio Oriente, emigrarono . I governi arabi reagirono al nascente conflitto Israele-Palestina
perseguitando le comunità ebraiche indigene.
Questa persecuzione, in combinazione con il crescente sentimento
sionista, spinse la maggioranza degli ebrei all' Alyah
in Israele, dove si si trovò senza un soldo avendo abbandonato le loro proprietà , successivamente requisiste o nazionalizzate dagli Stati arabi .
Il governo iracheno da 1950 in poi, invitò gli enti israeliani ,proposti a questo compito, a fare domanda di restituzione,ma Israele più che utilizzare la diplomazia, preferì usare questo problema come arma contro i Palestinesi negando non solo la loro richiesta di restituzione delle proprietà sequestrate , ma aggiungendo che in tal modo sarebbe stata compensato il valore dei beni ebraici perduti
Sia con Menachem Begin sia con Ariel Sharon le organizzazioni che rappresentano gli ebrei mizrahi, fecero pressioni sul governo per risolvere la questione senza alcun
risultato
Oggi è necessaria una campagna pubblica efficace utilizzando il diritto internazionale e le nuove tecnologie che permettono di interagire direttamente con persone dei paesi nemici.
La tecnologia fornisce un terreno fertile per la creazione di una
piattaforma che ospiterà storie di ebrei
e rifugiati palestinesi e dettagli sulle proprietà perdute .
Solo con il reciproco riconoscimento dell' ingiustizia inflitta a
milioni di persone e ai loro discendenti potrà emergere una soluzione
The property Jews abandoned across the Middle East has been long used by…
972mag.com|Di +972 Magazine
No more lip service: How to retrieve lost Jewish property in Arab countries
The property Jews abandoned across the Middle East has been long used by Israel as a bargaining chip, to offset similar Palestinian claims. If Mizrahi Israelis are serious about claiming it back, it can only be done by bringing the Palestinians on board.By Uri Zaki
A Jewish Wedding in Morocco, by Eugene Delacroix (1841)
It is against this backdrop that we should assess the government’s recently launched efforts to retrieve the lost property of Middle Eastern Jews. Are we seeing a bona fide effort to redress of one of the issues Mizrahi Jews hold most dear, or just a hollow spin that will amount to nothing?
Looking back on of Israel’s treatment of the issue, the conclusion is clear: Every single government, whether Labor or Likud, treated Mizrahi Jews’ restitution claims as bargaining chips, to be offset against similar Palestinian claims.
Property worth billions
What is the basis for these claims? In the immediate wake of the establishment of the State of Israel, some 800,000 Jews from across the Middle East emigrated after the Arab governments responded to the nascent Israeli-Palestinian conflict by persecuting the indigenous Jewish communities. This persecution, combined with growing Zionist sentiment, led the vast majority of them to make Alyah to Israel, where they found themselves penniless, having left behind billions’ worth of property that has subsequently been requisitioned or nationalized.
On several occasions from the 1950s onwards, the immigrants were invited by the Israeli government and affiliated bodies to make restitution claims. Their initial belief that Israel will pull diplomatic leverages to return their belongings was quickly subsumed by the realization that their property serves a sole purpose – that of countering the Palestinians’ argument for restitution.
What’s more, consecutive Israeli governments declared that the value of Jewish property left in Arab countries would be offset from the value of the property fleeing Palestinians left behind in 1948 – and would even secure a net profit.
The most realistic opportunities to follow up on these claims came when Likud was in office. The first was Menachem Begin’s first government, who negotiated a peace agreement with Egypt in 1979 and the second came 24 years later, when Ariel Sharon was prime minister during the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, and the appointment of a new regime. On both occasions the government was lobbied by organizations representing Mizrahi Jews, to no avail.
The government’s ongoing snub created a backlash among Middle Eastern Jews in Israel. The leaders of the Mizrahi Democratic Rainbow, for example, representing second-generation Mizrahim, called on the government to get its hands off their property, because it doesn’t represent their interests.
Clearly, the Israeli government won’t pursue this issue in earnest out of its own free will. What is needed is an effective public campaign which the government will be unable to ignore.
How to bypass the government
While the government sees lost Jewish property as a mere political bargaining chip, civil society action should do the opposite: Use the mutual claims as a leverage to bring the two sides closer together and make a joint claim to their respective leaderships.
Recent trends in international law place the emphasis on “satisfaction,” which derives from publicly addressing the past, issuing apologies and taking responsibility for creating injustices. These, alongside reparations and restitution of lost property, are essential in conflict resolution.
The communication technology of our time allows us, for the first time ever, to interact with people across the border, in enemy countries. Unlike any time before, Israelis today are able to speak to Iranians, Lebanese, Egyptians and others, directly.
The technology provides fertile ground for the creation of a Middle Eastern memory platform – which will host the stories of Jewish as well as Palestinian refugees. Naturally, beyond accounts of the physical and emotional trauma, they would include details about their lost property.
Only thus could mutual recognition of the injustice inflicted upon millions of people and their descendants, on both sides of the divide, emerge. In addition, it could create a buzz in the relevant countries as well as internationally, paving the way for actual reparation and restitution as well as satisfaction.
Uri Zaki is a Takana fellow at the Emile Zola Chair for Human Rights Center at the College of Management’s School of Law.
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