THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Boris Smolar's
`Between You
. . . and Me'
Editor-in-Chief
Emeritus, JTA
(Copyright 1983, JTA, Inc.)
JDC IN EGYPT: The Camp David pact reached be-
tween Egypt and Israel under the influence of the U.S.
government may still lack clarity in some points, however
there is no doubt that the accord was in a way instrumental
in the restoration by the Egyptian authorities of the right of
the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee to re-
sume its relief activity for the small number of Jews still
residing in Egypt.
The JDC has not been permitted to function in Egypt
since the outbreak of the Arab war against Israel in 1948
However, it continued to provide assistance to the poor and
elderly Jews there channeling its relief through the Inter-
national Red Cross in Cairo. Following the Egyptian-
Israeli agreement at Camp David, the JDC began negotia-
tions with Egypt to secure resumption of its relief directly
to the Jewish community. The negotiations — conducted
through the Egyptian Ambassador in Washington — were
successful. JDC president Henry Taub and executive vice
president Ralph Goldman then visited Cairo where they
were cordially received.
A JDC staff has been working since then with leaders
of the Jewish community in Egypt on the development of a
full range of relief services. One of the results was that the
Jews in Egypt celebrated Passover this year with matzot
and other Passover food received directly from the JDC.
There are today about 380 Jews in Egypt out of a total
of about 80,000 who lived there before the outbreak of the
Arab war against Israel. About half of them reside now in
Cairo and the other half in Alexandria.
JDC AID IN LEBANON: There are today about 300
Jews still living in Lebanon. According to the Lebanese
government census of 1952 there were 5,920 Lebanese and
1,041 foreign Jews in the country, among them French,
Greek, Persian and Algerian nationals. With approx-
imately 3,000 Jews from Syria —who described themselves
as "tourists" — the number of Jews in Lebanon totaled
about 10,000.
JDC emergency relief activities in south Lebanon for
Moslem and Christian Arabs — which started after the
liberation of the area from PLO terrorism — are now draw-
ing to a close. The total value of the JDC emergency action
is estimated at about $2 million.
JDC received donations of agricultural and farm tools
through the Brothers Foundation in Pittsburgh. It also
received several shipments of pharmaceuticals which have
been sent to the UNRWA medical clinics in Sidon. It deliv-
ered about 2,000 tons of cement to the Palestinian refugee
camps in south Lebanon enabling the reconstruction and
repair of 2,000 damaged homes. About 2,500 heating stoves
were distributed in the cold winter weeks — in conjunction
with UNRWA — to families in the same camps.
In Syria, where 13,000 Jews lived in 1947 — a year
before the outbreak of the Arab war against Israel — there
are today about 4,500 Jews, 80 percent of whom are concen-
trated in Damascus and some 800 live in Aleppo. A few
dozen families live in Kamishle. The JDC has been helping
the Jewish communities there for over 30 years but it was
not until 1977 that two JDC staff members were permitted
to visit the country and assess the needs of the Jews there at
first hand.
The Jewish communities in Damascus and Aleppo op-
erate day schools for their children and provide schooling
also for children from Kamishle. Both Jewish and secular
education is given in the schools which have an enrollment
of about 500 pupils in Damascus and 350 in Aleppo. While
some of the parents pay tuition, the schools are heavily
subsidized by the JDC.
JDC IN MOROCCO AND TUNISIA: The largest
sums spent by JDC on relief for Jews in Moslem countries
are for programs in Morocco and Tunisia. Each of the two
communities has, through massive emigration, diminished
in size to the point where the Jews who remain constitute a
remnant of once great cultures. They are the neediest ele-
ments of each community.
When the JDC began operations in Morocco in 1949,
there were as many as 350,000 Jews in the country. Today,
there are approximately 18,000 Jews there. In Tunisia,
where the JDC began full operations in the later 1940s, the
population of the Jewish community was estimated to be
about 100,000. Today there are only 4,500.
Even though the population of each community has
declined drastically, the services which JDC provides have
remained stable or even increased. JDC now spends about
$1.9 million a year on programs in Morocco and $700,000
for programs in Tunisia.
About half of the Jewish population in Morocco re-
ceives JDC aid directly or indirectly through welfare and
feeding, care of the aged, health care, education and serv-
ices for youth.
Controversy Over Collapse
of Abandoned Jaffa Mosque
TEL AVIV (JTA) — The
collapse of the minaret of a
long abandoned mosque in
Jaffa has raised tension in
Arab and other Moslem
communities in Israel and
triggered a controversy be-
tween the Tel Aviv munici-
pality and the government
over which was responsible
for delaying repairs on the
structure, the Hassan Bek
mosque.
The minaret, a slender
tower from which the Mos-
lem faithful are summoned
to prayer, collapsed early
Saturday morning. No one
was injured. Police
engineers ruled out an exp-
losion and said the
structure fell apart because
of neglect.
The mosque has been
abandoned since the Israeli
state was founded in 1948.
Jaffa, once an Arab town,
was subsequently incorpo-
rated into Tel Aviv.
Two years ago, a pri-
vate contractor at-
tempted to lease the roof-
less, unused structure to
turn it into a tourist
shopping center. The bid
was blocked by Moslems
and by the Tel..Aviv
municipality.
The Tel Aviv authorities
and the local branch of
Wald, the Moslem property
association, agreed that the
mosque should be repaired
and used once again as a
house of worship,. although
Friday, April 8, 1983
21
See "THE LEADER" Today
few if any Arabs or Moslems
now live in the vicinity.
According to Mayor
Shlomo Lahat of Tel Aviv,
city engineers drew up
plans for the repair work
and the necessary funds
were promised by the Reli-
gious Affairs Ministry.
Lahat says the funds have
not been forthcoming de-
spite his repeated requests.
Ministry sources blame the
municipal authorities for
the delay. Meanwhile, Mos-
lem groups have been hold-
ing a vigil outside the col-
lapsed structure.
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NCJW Calls
for Renewed
M.E. Effort
WASHINGTON — The
National Council of Jewish
Women (NCJW) called for a
renewed effort for peace in
the Middle East within the
framework of the Camp
David accords at its na-
tional convention here last
month.
In other resolutions
passed at the convention,
the NCJW endorsed im-
mediate action by Congress
on Social Security reform
and urged President Re-
agan and Congress to de-
clare Martin Luther King's
birthday a national holiday.
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