357-2030
29215 Northwestern Hwy.
Franklin Shopping Plaza
surveillance by Syrian intelli-
gence officials, say the
sources.
They are the only minority
group whose identification
cards must carry evidence of
their religious affiliation. And
while freedom of worship is
officially permitted, the
regime recently appointed a
Muslim principal to the
Jewish school in Damascus.
As a result, the teaching of
Hebrew and religious sub-
jects has been severely cur-
tailed and the school is now
predominantly secular.
A problem which continues
to face the Jewish communi-
ty of Syria is the chronic
shortage of eligible men for
marriageable women. Accord-
ing to the Israeli source, an
unspecified number of Jewish
men have succeeded in leav-
ing the country illegally by
"escaping across the border,"
leaving a serious imbalance in
the sexes.
As there is no assimilation
or intermarriage — conver-
sion is unheard of — about
300 Jewish women are left
without any hope of finding
marriage partners.
Ten years ago, following
top-level negotiations be-
tween Washington and Dam-
ascus, 13 Jewish women were
allowed to leave Syria per-
manently in order to seek
husbands in the United
States.
Since then, however, no
Jews have been legally per-
mitted to emigrate.
According to Shaul Ramati,
a former Israeli ambassador
to Japan who is now director-
general of the World Organi-
zation for Jews from Arab
Countries, there is a measure
of optimism among Syrian
Jews.
"But this optimism," he
says, "is accompanied by a
certain amount of constant
fear. They know they are a
card that Syria is keeping up
its sleeve."
Moshe Cohen, who heads
the Council of Syrian Jews,
believes that if the gates were
open to Jewish emigration, at
least 85 percent of the com-
munity would leave within a
month.
"The situation has improv-
ed," he says, "but they are
still living within a prison."
Ben-Gurion
Chronicled
New York — To mark the
centennial of the birth of
David Ben-Gurion, the
Anti-Defamation League of
B'nai B'rith has published an
eight-page tabloid newspaper
on the life and career of Is-
rael's founding father and
first prime minister.
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