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the creation of Israel have received scant
attention from the world — and not
enough from Israel.
That was the message at a unique con-
ference in Washington last weekend
sponsored by the World Jewish Congress
on "Jews from Arab States: A Forgotten
Exodus."
The issue is particularly timely because
of the possible revival of Israeli-
Palestinian negotiations — and the
expected debate over a Palestinian "right
of return."
What is frequently overlooked,
according to a WJC official, is the fact
that UN Resolution 242, the 1967 reso-
lution accepted as a basis for resolving
the Arab-Israeli conflict, calls for "a just
settlement of the refugee problem" —
and not just the Palestinian refugee
problem.
Irwin Coder, an international human
rights authority, said the "forced exodus"
from Arab lands was nothing short of
"ethnic cleansing, in a legal and moral
sense," and said there has been no
accountability for the Arab expulsion or
the expropriation of Jewish property.
Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., who rep-
resents the largest Sephardic community
in the country, said, "I want to be a
champion of this issue and work closely
with you," and promised to press for
congressional hearings on the subject.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., who
chairs an important Mideast subcommit-
tee, sent a letter promising the topic will
be considered at hearings this spring.
Benny Dagan, an official at the
Israeli embassy in Washington, said his
government should pay more attention
to the forced exodus. Dagan's mother,
an Iraqi Jew, fled Iraq through the same
airport that U.S. forces recently cap-
tured.
Saed Herdoon, an Iraqi refugee now
living in New York, offered partici-
pants a harrowing view of Saddam
Hussein's jails.
Avi Beker, secretary general of the
World Jewish Congress, said when
Mideast negotiations resume, the
Jewish refugee issue will be a test of
the Arabs "seriousness about peace
with Israel. It's a practical test; how
they deal with refugees will be an indi-
cation of how serious they are about
negotiations."
Arab states must work to resettle
and integrate those Palestinians who
choose not to go to Gaza and the West
Bank, and stop pressing for an unlim-
ited right of return to Israel, he said,
the issue that blew apart the last nego-
tiations. And the said the question of
refugees "should be integrated" into
the pending Mideast road map. .111
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