Twenty Major Jewish Organizations Meet in Jerusalem Seeking Redress From Arab Countries

Twenty major Jewish organizations from 12 countries to participate in major Jerusalem meeting seeking redress from Arab countries.

New York, NY (PRWEB) October 17, 2006 –- What could possibly motivate leaders from 12 Diaspora countries and over 20 major Jewish organizations to travel thousands of miles for a one day meeting?

The conviction that one can no longer remain silent about the injustices perpetrated upon Jewish refugees from Arab countries.

On October 22-23, 2006, delegates from Europe, North and South America and Asia will convene in Jerusalem to launch a worldwide campaign to secure rights and redress for Jews displaced from Arab countries. The goals of this International Rights and Redress Campaign are:

1) To register family history narratives, and document the mass violations of human rights suffered by Jews under Arab regimes (e.g. murder, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, stripping of citizenship, seizure of property, etc.); and,

2) To catalogue the loss of extensive communal and individual assets.

When the issue of ‘refugees’ is raised within the context of the Middle East, people invariably refer to Palestinian refugees. Neither the mass violations of human rights, nor the displacement of Jews from Arab countries, have ever been adequately addressed by the international community.

That is what motivated Diaspora Jewish communities worldwide to join the International Rights and Redress Campaign that is being coordinated by the World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries (WOJAC) and Justice for Jews from Arab Countries (JJAC). This upcoming meeting in Jerusalem is the culmination of over three years of research and planning, focusing on the disproportionate and differential response of the international community to the plight of up to 1,000,000 Jews forced to flee from Arab countries.

“History reveals that there were two refugee populations created as a result of the longstanding dispute in the Middle East” said Stanley A. Urman, Executive Director of Justice for Jews from Arab Countries (JJAC) “It would constitute an injustice, were the international community to recognize rights for one victim population - Palestinian refugees - without recognizing equal rights for other victims of that very same Middle East conflict - former Jewish, Christian and other refugees from Arab countries”.

The International Rights and Redress Campaign will endeavor to register every Jewish family that fled an Arab country; and to document the historical narrative of their displacement and their claims.

Shelomo Alfassa, US Director of JJAC stated: “With memories fading, and elderly people passing on each day, this will be our last chance to obtain this important record of Jewish history and the evidence for future claims."

WOJAC and JJAC will be assisted in this International Rights and Redress Campaign by a coalition of Jewish organizations in North and South America, Europe, Israel and South East Asia including, among others, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, American Sephardi Federation, Anti-Defamation League, Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA), B’nai Brith Canada, B’nai Brith Hungary, B’nai Brith International, Board of Deputies of British Jews, Canadian Jewish Congress, CCCOJB, Centro Israelita de Bagota, Comite Central de la Comunidad Judia de Mexico, Comunidad de San Pedro Sula, Comunidad Judía Guatemalteca, Confederação Israelita do Brasil, Congregation of Israelite Associations of Venezuela, Congreso Judio Panamano, Conseil representative des institutions juives de France (CRIF), Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain, HARIF, Institut Sepharade Europeen, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, JIMENA, Nueva Congregacion Israelite, Svensk-Israel-Information - Swedish Israel Information For Israel and Democracy in the Middle East (FADIM), Unione delle Comunita Ebraiche Italiana and the World Sephardic Congress.

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