82 Friday, September 9, 1977 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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The History of Jews in Arab Lands Is An Ugly Picture
New Year Greetings
I CADILLAC FENCE
I & SUPPLY CO.
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13675 Plymouth
BY MAMA H. SHULEW1i7
(Copyright 1977. HA.
Jews didn't always suffer
in the Arab world. There
was certainly no holocaust
such as that which befell
them in Europe nearly 40
years ago. Indeed, there
were periods of prosperity,
influence and tolerance.
The objective observer
WE 3-8755
Greciings
-:Crown Cloak Co., Inc.:
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1425 Broadway
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Manufacturing
Contemporary Ready to Wear
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Happy Holiday
BANK OF COMMERCE
Hamtramck, Cente-rline, Warren,
W. Utica, Avon & Shelby Twps.
Member Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
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DEBORAH'S INVITATIONS
Advance Building — Southfield
537-1490
wishes you a happy and healthy New Year
Debbie, Harold, Maureen, Michael,
Jeffrey & Gary Weisserman
nest Wishes for a Happy,
Healthy and Prosperous
NEW YEAR
DRAFC
SY DRAFT
Office Art and
Drafting Supply
r
EAST SIDE
WEST SIDE
968-2620
26000 GREENFIELD
OAK PARK
LINCOLN CENTER
Office Furniture
731-6200
8186 23 MILE RD.
SHELBY PLAZA
SHELBY TWP
jerry and anita silberman
of
anitta handbag - studio
wish their many friends and customers
a healthy & joyous
new year
OMB
Ma
MINI-Na
A, Happy and
Healthy New Year ,
.
From The Entire Staff
GEM SALES CO.
22635 Woodward, Ferndale
399-0330
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Dear Friends and and Customers:
A very happy
holiday season
and kindest wishes
for the New Year
y
Mr. and Mrs. Kurt Kraemer
RANIER'S
PASTRY
OPEN MONDAY, SEPT. 12th
12 Mile & Evergreen, 557-0340
also at Livernois at 7 Mile, 862-9196
must pay due respect to
those Moslems who saved
Jewish lives during many a
rampage through Jewish
quarters. by their brethren;
he must acknowledge that
during their long sojourn in
the Arab world Jews were
able to serve as physicians
or advisors to Caliph and
Sultan alike and to play
leading roles in the devel-
opment of trade and com-
merce in these countries.
And he must pay homage to
a galaxy of Jewish scholars
in the Arab world who were
enabled to make major con-
tributions to Jewish life and
thought.
However, it is these good
experiences that are always
cited as the norm of Jewish
life in the Arab world. The
time has come to put the re-
cord straight and destroy
the myth of a long "Golden
Age" that preceded the rise
of modem Zionism in the
Arab world; to view the
whole picture, upon which
the shade exceeds the light.
In- order to understand
why if it was sometimes rel-
atively good it was in gener-
al so bad, one must first ex-
amine the position of Jews
under Islam which, to this
day, is the state religion
throughout the Arab world,
except in Lebanon. And one
must briefly turn back the
pages of history in the
Middle East and North Af-
rica, where Jews had re-
sided for at least a thou-
sand years before the rise
of Islam. -
The conquering Arab ar-
mies of Islam, speeding
like a whirlwind through
this part of the world in the
Seventh Century, encoun-
tered thousands of Jewish
settlements.
Not unlike the leaders of
early Christianity, the
founder of this new religion
had expected the Jews to
convert. But when most of
these "stiff necked people"
refused to abandon the faith
of their fathers, Mo-
hammed's initial admira-
tion for the People of the
Book turned to hostility,
and the Jews paid dearly;
many of the Jewish tribes
of Medina, such as the Qu-
rayza, perished by the_
sword and the survivors
were driven from the Ara-
bian peninsula. The Mus-
lims attacked the Jewish
oasis of Khaibar; here, how-
ever, the Jews were al-
lowed to retain their land
but had to pay a 50 percent
tribute.
Thus the pattern was set.
Jews could remain Jews—
at a price. It fluctuated in
accordance with the Mos-
lem conquerors' need for
Jewish expertise. Because
the Jews refused to accept
Mohammed as the true
prophet he branded them as
adversaries of God'.
Considering the conserva-
tive, xenophobic character
of Arab nationalism which
is rooted in Islam, it is
small wonder, then, that
the declaration of the state
of Israel proved to be the
catalyst that set whole Jew-
ish communities on the run
and brought about the vir-
tual, dissolution of what was
this people's most ancient
Diaspora.
In 1948 there were approx-
imately 860,000 Jews resid-
ing throughout the Arab
world., Fifty to 60,000 re-
main there today—mainly
in North Africa and Syria.
About 200,000 made their
homes in such countries as
France, England and the
U.S. The lion's share—some
600,000—came to Israel, and
today they and their de-
scendants comprise more
than 50 percent of the popu-
lation of the Jewish state.
When the Arab armies in-
vaded Israel following the
UN Resolution and the dec-
laration of statehood in 1948
all hell broke loose: in
Egypt, Iraq and Syria there
were arrests, interrogations
and beatings of Jews; in
Oujda and Djerada, Mo-
rocco, riots broke, out in
June 1948 in which many
Jews were killed and in-
jured. In Aleppo, Syria,
April 1948 saw a contin-
uation of the previous De-
cember's anti-Jewish riots
when many were killed, 150
Jewish homes, 50 shops, 18
synagogues and five schools
were burned and many sur-
vivors went into hiding in
fear of their lives.
At about the same time,
the Jewish quarter, the
hara, in Tripoli, Libya, was
attacked. On June 20, the
Jewish quarter of Cairo
was shaken by explosions
which reduced four blocks
of Jewish-occupied tene-
ments to rubble and left 34
dead and 60. injured and
much Jewish property de-
stroyed. Attacks and rape
of Jews on the streets went
on for a week while Egyp-
tian security forces did noth-
ing.
The newly established state
of Israel, hardly recovered
from the war caused by the
invasion of six Arab states,
had to gird itself to receive
wave upon wave of refu-
gees. Of the 341,000 who
landed in Israel during the
first 18 months of state-
hood, over a' third came
from Moslem countries—
but this was only the begin-
ning.
Tent and but cities known
as ma'abarot (transit
camps) sprang up all over
the country—eyesores on an
otherwise lovely landscape.
They were very primitive—
flooded in the winter and
burning hot in the summer,
but there was no other
means of accommodation
available at a time when Is-
raeli virtually became a
country of refugees.
At the same time, similar
camp cities were set up in
various Arab countries to
shelter refugees from Pales-
tine. Arab propagandists
had promised a blood bath
as soon as the Mandate end-
ed and advised local Arabs
to get out of the way of in-
vading Arab armies. Their
invasion was preceded . by
broadcasts. from Cairo,
Damascus, Amman and Bei-
rut warning that any Arabs
who stayed would be
hanged as. collaborators.
So the Palestinian Arabs
left, and the Jews. from
Arab countries arrived. 4
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.
The tent-hut cities
erected to house Arab and
Jewish refugees looked
much the same, but here
the similarity entis. In Is-
rael, the newcomers were
immediately accorded full
citizenship rights and the
transit camps regarded as
temporary accommodation.
By contrast, with the excep-
tion of Jordan, no Arab
"host" offered the refugees
citizenship and a full place
in the community.
Not only did Israel dis-
solve the camps as soon as
enough permanent housing
was available; the nascent
Jewish state attempted to
learn from its initial efforts
and the mistakes made in
settling Jews from Oriental
countries.
Those who came with the
next wave from North Af-
rica in 1955-57 (following
the proclamation of Mo-
rocco and Tunisian inde-
pendence and further out-
rages against the remaining
Jewish population) went
straight from the ship te
new settlements. Toda
most of . these settlements
are well established.
LINCOLN BARBER SHOP
Wishes Their Customers
A Happy Healthy
NEW YEAR
26090 Greenfield, Oak Park
Samuel & Manny Laski and FamilieS
S & M HEATING SALES CO.
Wishes Everyone A Happy
NEW YEAR
LES & MARCIA WEINER
AND SONS OF TECK CLEANERS
Oak Park
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wish their family and friends
a happy and healthy New Year
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TO
OUR MANY FRIENDS AND CUSTOMERS
FOR A YEAR OF HEALTH AND HAPPINtSS
R AIKA„, , i(
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Established 1924
NORTHLAND
CENTER
Sol, His Family and the Staff of
Sol's
Service
Complete Mechanical, Electrical Repairs
and Air Conditioning Serv.
24839 Greenfield Rd. at 10 Mile
Southfield
557-0957
wish all their friends
and customers
A Very Happy, Healthy
and Prosperous New Year
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