82 Friday, September 9, 1977 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS I The History of Jews in Arab Lands Is An Ugly Picture New Year Greetings I CADILLAC FENCE I & SUPPLY CO. I 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.: • • 1425 Broadway • • • • Manufacturing Contemporary Ready to Wear • • I •. R. ..(.1t11 . ( triz CI - I.i., m)u• . • • i t _:, • . . • i • _. . 00000000000 ■--- 7-- Z ... - -ar .rii7.- I I L Happy Holiday BANK OF COMMERCE Hamtramck, Cente-rline, Warren, W. Utica, Avon & Shelby Twps. Member Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation oo 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 - 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 • . 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 I wish their family and friends a happy and healthy New Year 4 TO OUR MANY FRIENDS AND CUSTOMERS FOR A YEAR OF HEALTH AND HAPPINtSS R AIKA„, , i( • • 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 1. 0 ........ 0. 1