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Welcoming our long-gone neighbors
By Sultan Al Qassemi
Tags: arabs

Many of us have heard of the famous advertising empire known as Saatchi & Saatchi, laughed at the jokes of Jerry Seinfeld, tapped our feet to the beats of Paula Abdul and shopped at Max Azria's BCBG stores. So what do all these successful people from various industries have in common? They are all of Arab origins.

The Jewish presence in what is now the Arab world dates back thousands of years; in fact, the very religion was founded in this region. Arab Muslims, Christians and Jews have been living in peace and harmony for centuries, so what happened? In short, after the violent wave of European anti-Semitism in the mid-20th century there was an exodus of European Jewry into historic Palestine, much of it forced, armed and violent, led by groups such as the Haganah and the Irgun (who were responsible for the bombing of the King David Hotel).

Unfortunately, many Muslim Arabs from across the region reacted violently to these developments and decided to reciprocate; as a result, Jews who were living among them were shunned and assaulted. In Iraq, for example, about 120,000 Jews were compelled to emigrate to Israel, the U.S. and Europe in just less than three years.
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The streets of Cairo, the historic neighborhoods of Syria, the mountainous terrain of Lebanon and the bustling markets of Baghdad were, for the first time in thousands of years, emptied of one of the most successful ethnic minorities living within their communities. Doctors, architects, businessmen, scientists, poets and writers started to pack up and leave, some with good reason and some to avoid the repercussions of the founding of the state of Israel.

It wasn't all bad blood between the Arabs and the Jews; in fact, there were stories of heroism that have gone unreported and unnoticed in the Arab media. In the midst of the horrors of the Nazi occupation of France in the 1940s, the imam of the Paris Mosque saved the lives of scores of Jews by issuing certificates stating that they were Muslim. In Tunis, entire Jewish families were saved by a local hero, Khaled Abdelwahhab, who hid them in his farm at great risk to himself and his family; he was honored posthumously for his bravery by the Anti-Defamation League. As a result of such actions, fewer than 1 percent of the Jews of Arabia - who numbered in the hundreds of thousands - perished compared to more than 50 percent of the Jews of Europe.

Since then, there has been predominantly negative coverage of Judeo-Arab relations. Europe, after the Second World War, was able to turn the page almost immediately, yet many Arabs still paint all Jews with the same brush used for Israelis.

In 1975, in the wake of the death of the Egyptian revolutionary leader Gamal Abdel Nasser, many countries in which he had financed and encouraged revolutions shed the burden of his pan-Arab nationalism and scaremongering and decided to take action in order to restore the social unity of their countries. The pre-Saddam Iraqi Revolution Command Council issued advertisements in The New York Times and elsewhere inviting Jews to return to their home countries and guaranteeing their rights. Anwar Sadat's Egypt and Hafez Al Assad's Syria also issued such statements.

In recent history, only the two forward-thinking Middle Eastern kingdoms of Morocco and Bahrain have broken the mold of suspicion toward their Jewish citizens and integrated them into the social and political spheres. The former with the case of Andre Azoulay, an adviser to the previous and current kings; and the latter with the recent appointment of Huda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo as the new Bahraini ambassador to America.

Today in New York City alone there are more than 75,000 Jews of Syrian origin, many of them educated in the best schools, who speak or understand Arabic and still have an affinity for Syria. Is it not possible to imagine that such persons have the right, if they so choose, to be full citizens of Syria?

Is it not time to reassure the Jews of Arab origin that their ancestral homes are mature enough to welcome them back if they decide to invest, visit or even take up citizenship? If football players who spend a few months in the Middle East are given citizenship, shouldn't people who have a natural birthright, tremendous wealth, and valuable education and skills be accorded the same?

Of course such statements will be met with criticism and reminders of what the Israelis are doing to our Palestinian brothers and sisters. To that one can reply that in the Middle East, no one has been more cruel and violent to Arabs, more exploitive of the Palestinians and more manipulative of their cause than Arabs themselves. Have we forgotten that it was Iraq that invaded Kuwait, Egypt that encouraged bloody revolutions throughout the region and mostly militants from the Arabian Peninsula who perpetrated atrocious crimes of terrorism in Iraq? We ourselves have been the victims of unfair generalizations by the Western media - but should we learn from past lessons, or should we continue to reciprocate?

Sultan Al Qassemi is a Sharjah-based businessman and graduate of the American University of Paris. He is founder of Barjeel Securities, Dubai, and can be reached at sultan.alqassemi@gmail.com. This article originally appeared in The Nation.
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  1.   but can they be trusted? 09:44  |  odles 16/05/08
  2.   Morocco`s Okay I Could Live There 09:57  |  Yosemite 16/05/08
  3.   How about the Jews of Iran 10:05  |  Natallie Durson 16/05/08
  4.   How "Generous": Allowing Us To Be Your Niggers Again 10:20  |  Yishai Kohen 16/05/08
  5.   everyone loves to give a hand to any kind of jews :) 10:32  |  Atilla KARAGÖZOĞLU 16/05/08
  6.   SULTANS ... KINGS ...WHAT A POOR WORLD 10:32  |  Atilla KARAGÖZOĞLU 16/05/08
  7.   Durson: There are plenty of Iranian Jews in Israel 10:39  |  Simcha 16/05/08
  8.   what planet does this person live on? out of touch with reality 11:04  |  don 16/05/08
  9.   is he crazy? Wishful thinking but totally unpractical 11:04  |  Jo 16/05/08
  10.   Yishai 11:12  |  Sultan Al-Qassemi 16/05/08
  11.   Yishai Kohen 11:17  |  Mike 16/05/08
  12.   Correction errors of the past 11:40  |  Jacob 16/05/08
  13.   You people are unbelievable! 11:52  |  Said 16/05/08
  14.   #1 The Jews of Iran 11:54  |  hala 16/05/08
  15.   Warped view of history 11:57  |  Ex syrian Jew 16/05/08
  16.   Just Give Us Financial Compensation Instead and leave Israel Be 12:10  |  Baruch Gold 16/05/08
  17.   R Arabs really this dumb? 12:13  |  FOX 16/05/08
  18.   Natalie let`s discuss chewing gum 12:19  |  FOX 16/05/08
  19.   Natalie let`s discuss chewing gum 12:19  |  FOX 16/05/08
  20.   RE: warped view of History 12:30  |  SM 16/05/08
  21.   THIS IS AMAZING! WE NEED MORE LIKE THIS 12:38  |  Nechama 16/05/08
  22.   Natallie Durson comment on Jews in Iran 12:41  |  Jon 16/05/08
  23.   No Such Thing As "Arab Jews" 13:02  |  Ben Israel 16/05/08
  24.   great article 13:06  |  Franck Amsallem 16/05/08
  25.   As usual 13:10  |  Neri 16/05/08
  26.   Why would anyone move from a democracy to a dictatorship? 13:19  |  David G 16/05/08
  27.   They don`t want to Go Back 13:29  |  Bernie 16/05/08
  28.   I am for it 13:32  |  El-Birawi 16/05/08
  29.   Mr. Al Qasemi...The Arab jews... 13:51  |  Ali 16/05/08
  30.   Hello Toronto don... 14:11  |  ali 16/05/08
  31.   i have a better idea let the arabs inside israel 14:29  |  v hardman 16/05/08
  32.   The difference between Israel and Arab countries 14:40  |  Realist 16/05/08
  33.   Oh really? 14:47  |  Walter 16/05/08
  34.   Bernie`s self serving analysis 14:48  |  x-ray 16/05/08
  35.   This article is yet another attempt to re-write history without 14:50  |  Amihai 16/05/08
  36.   Ali #12 14:51  |  x-ray 16/05/08
  37.   Why not return to Yemen and join 14:54  |  Arthur 16/05/08
  38.   Once the Conflict Is Resolved 15:09  |  Yaakov Sullivan 16/05/08
  39.   excellent Idea!-The descendants of the 5000 15:22  |  Arthur 16/05/08
  40.   Very Fine idea-We are trying to return to 15:29  |  Arthur 16/05/08
  41.   well done 15:45  |  Neri 16/05/08
  42.   Natallie - you have entered the world of fanatasy 15:57  |  Nassy 16/05/08
  43.   Arab Moslems do not treat minorities well 16:02  |  Walid 16/05/08
  44.   Yaakov Sullivan 16:05  |  Carmi 16/05/08
  45.   Moses Maimonides about Arabs 16:25  |  IM 16/05/08
  46.   Crushing The Lie About Jews Under Islam, Once And For All 16:26  |  IM 16/05/08
  47.   Arabs need Jews ? 16:33  |  Bar 16/05/08
  48.   #1 Natallie Durson 16:38  |  Tali 16/05/08
  49.   Expulsions of Arab Jews and Palestinians are both ethnic cleansin 16:43  |  anti-racist 16/05/08
  50.   Arthur , # 26 , right and wrong 16:44  |  bar 16/05/08
  51.   Instead why not accepted the population exchange that took place? 16:44  |  Joel Stein 16/05/08
  52.   Xray # 20 , That`s exactly what i wanted to write 16:46  |  bar 16/05/08
  53.   Back to an Arab country. 16:54  |  David Nigel Braham 16/05/08
  54.   The Sultan`s words are progressive and encouraging. 17:10  |  a wandering Jew 16/05/08
  55.   Shameful responses to an admirable article 17:13  |  Aaron Levitt 16/05/08
  56.   long island can be the new israel 17:16  |  steve 16/05/08
  57.   Reluctant to Applaud this 17:19  |  Awake 16/05/08
  58.   Well..... 17:33  |  Danite 16/05/08
  59.   Sutlan PS 17:35  |  Danite 16/05/08
  60.   Someone should tell Natalie what Persianjews outside of Iran feel 17:39  |  Robert/Montreal 16/05/08
  61.   jrewish return to Arab lands? 17:44  |  Morris 16/05/08
  62.   #24 Yaakov badly mis informed 17:45  |  Robert/Montreal 16/05/08
  63.   Seinfeld 17:51  |  Ilan 16/05/08
  64.   Sullivan blabbering 18:08  |  Rory 16/05/08
  65.   It takes an outsider... 18:11  |  Buzaglow 16/05/08
  66.   To Mr Al Qassemi. Congratulations 18:45  |  Altalena 16/05/08
  67.   Coptic Christians 18:48  |  Jane 16/05/08
  68.   why not appreciate what a no small & really exceptional Arab is - 18:51  |  ivo 16/05/08
  69.   The usual distortions 19:02  |  fiona 16/05/08
  70.   Yaacov 19:02  |  Gimpel the fool 16/05/08
  71.   Don;t call Jews "Arabs" 19:11  |