This is part II of what I hope will be a 5 part series this week concerning Jews who emigrated from Arab and Muslim countries after Israel declared its independence in 1948.
Part I - Introduction, A Summary of Allegations Made and Information Omitted, Statistics, Notes on Israeli Laws Passed Immediately after Israeli Independence Regarding Palestinians and Their Possessions, Land Ownership in Israel Today
Part II - Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen/Aden, Libya
Part III -Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco
Part IV - Lebanon, Syria
Part V - Egypt, Iraq, Closing Notes
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If you are interested in my feelings about Israel and Palestine please read Just Me and I/P.
Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen/Aden and Libya seem to me to be the least controversial. That’s why I have placed them first.
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Iran
In 1948 Iran was a pro-Western, relatively secular kingdom ruled by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
It is reported that about 100,000 Jews lived in Iran in 1948.
There are some estimates that the number was 120,000.
The number of Jews in Iran is reported to have gradually decreased to about 80,000 in 1951.
Tens of thousands of Iranian Jews, mostly of them poor, emigrated to Israel during this period.
The Shah of Iran had close relations with Israel. They began when Iran recognized Israel soon after it declared its independence and continued until the Islamic Revolution overthrew the Shah in 1979.
Several articles and reports mention that anti-Jewish sentiments rose in Iran after Israel declared its independence and during the 1951-1953 Mohammad Mossadegh political crisis.
The number of Jews in Iran is reported to have remained fairly stable until 1978, with population growth from births being offset by emigration.
The number of Jews in Iran is reported to have decreased to about 32,000 in 1980 and then to have gradually decreased to about 19,000 in 1990.
During 1978 demonstrations against the Shah grew in number and size, and many demonstrators were killed by security forces, until on February 11, 1979 the Shah of Iran was overthrown.
It took more than two years for the Islamic Republic of Iran as we know it today to become fully operational as a government. Factions fought for control of the government, there was a series of assassinations, and one president was impeached. The government didn’t fully establish its control until after the Iran-Iraq war began.
The government grew more repressive and there are estimates that up to 8,000 Iranians were executed between 1981 and 1985.
Saddam Hussein hoped to take advantage of this chaos and Iraqi forces invaded Iran in September, 1980. By the time the war ended in August, 1988 more than 500,000 Iranians had been killed or wounded in battles, and thousands of civilians were also killed during Iraqi bombings and missile attacks on Iranian cities.
Hundreds of thousands of Iranians left Iran during this period, many of them were Jews.
The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been anti-American, anti-Zionist and anti-Israeli more or less since it was founded. Jews are recognized in the constitution, are free to practice their religion, and have full constitutional rights, but direct travel to Israel is not allowed.
During this period some Jews in Iran were subjected to harassment, discrimination and arrest, and several Jews were executed by Iranian authorities, usually on the grounds that they were Israeli spies.
Personal note: I was in Iran in February and March, 1980. While I was there I visited a synagogue in Tehran and another in Shiraz. I noticed them as I was walking down the street, their doors were open, and I just walked in. The people there were very gracious and we talked freely. They didn’t seem to be any more worried about the situation in Iran than the other people I talked with while I was in Iran.
Since 1990 the number of Jews in Iran is reported to have continued to decrease and to be about 10,000 currently.
Some reports put the number of Jews in Iran currently at 20,000 - 25,000. This may be because many Iranians, Muslims and Jews, maintain a home in Iran and are considered officially to live in Iran but they actually live abroad and return to Iran occasionally.
There are reports that Jews in Iran are still sometimes subjected to harassment,
discrimination and arrest.
Anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic articles and reports often appear in Iranian media.
In 1998 an Iranian Jewish businessman was hung in an Iranian prison. The charges against him were not announced, but there is speculation that it was because he had assisted Iranian Jews when they emigrated.
In 1999 thirteen Jews were arrested in Shiraz for spying, three were found innocent and ten were convicted of lesser charges and sentenced to prison terms. All ten were released by October, 2002.
There are also reports that many Jews in Iran are happy living in Iran. They practice their religion, own private and communal property, work, own businesses, serve in the Iranian army, go to school, and study in universities.
They are also able to travel abroad and travel to Israel is possible, usually via Turkey.
There are government-recognized Jewish Community Councils, which are responsible for the interests, welfare, religious and educational needs of the community, and there is a Jewish representative in the Iranian parliament.
There are also synagogues, Hebrew schools, a Jewish library, kosher restaurants, a Jewish hospital and Jewish cemeteries.
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Afghanistan
Generally information about Jews in Afghanistan is not detailed and difficult to find.
In 1948 Afghanistan was a kingdom ruled by King Mohammed Zahir Shah.
It is reported that about 5,000 Jews lived in Afghanistan in 1948.
The number of Jews in Afghanistan is reported to have decreased to about 3,500 - 4,000 at the end of 1950.
There are passing references to the Afghani Jews’ situations being ‘bad’ or ‘difficult’ during this period, but no explanation as to whether it was a situation experienced only by the Afghani Jews or was the situation of Afghanis in general at the time.
During this period the government of Prime Minister Sardar Shah Mahmud Khan was implementing a program of greater political freedom in Afghanistan.
The number of Jews in Afghanistan is reported to have remained stable until 1961 and then to have decreased to 1,000 in 1962.
In 1960 a crisis began to develop between Afghanistan and Pakistan and escalated to the point where, on September 6, 1961, the two countries severed relations and the border between them was closed.
Since most of Afghanistan’s exports were shipped through Pakistan to India, after the border was closed Afghani exports and trade came to a standstill, customs duties, which were the Afghani government’s main source of revenue, decreased, foreign exchange reserves were seriously depleted, and Afghanistan’s economic situation deteriorated.
The influence of the Soviet Union began during this period when it began providing aid to Afghanistan.
The number of Jews in Afghanistan is reported to have gradually decreased to 800 in 1971, then to 500 in 1972 and to 200 in 1973.
There was a severe drought in Afghanistan in 1971 and 1972. The drought, governmental corruption and royal family malfeasance caused conditions in Afghanistan to deteriorate quickly and in a coup in 1973 the government was overthrown, the king was deposed and the Republic of Afghanistan was established.
The number of Jews in Afghanistan is reported to have remained stable until 1978 and then to have decreased to only a few in the early 1980s.
In a violent coup in April, 1978 the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan took power and established the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. This was followed by another violent coup in September, 1979 and then by the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in December, 1979.
Since the early 1980s the number of Jews in Afghanistan is reported to have gradually decreased and to be only one currently.
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Pakistan
Generally information about Jews in Pakistan is not detailed and difficult to find.
In 1948 Pakistan was a parliamentary democracy.
The Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India were established in 1947 when the British granted independence to British India which had been a British colony since 1858.
Following partition more than 14 million people migrated across the new border, hundreds of thousands died in communal violence, and tensions with India resulted in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947-1949.
It is reported that about 2,000 Jews lived in Pakistan in 1948.
According to various reports a synagogue in Karachi was set on fire and Jews were attacked after Israel declared its independence in 1948.
The number of Jews in Pakistan is reported to have decreased to 1,500 in 1951.
The number of Jews in Pakistan is reported to have remained stable until 1953 and then to have decreased to 400 in 1954.
In 1953 following a series of major riots between Muslim factions in the Punjab Region of Pakistan martial Law was declared in the region and during the political crisis which followed the Governor-General of Pakistan forced the Prime Minister to resign.
Since 1954 the number of Jews in Pakistan is reported to have gradually decreased and to be about 200 currently.
According to various reports Magen Shalome, Karachi’s last synagogue, was demolished in the 1980s to make way for a shopping plaza and a group of Karachi Jews now live in Ramle, Israel and worship in a synagogue named Magen Shalome.
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Yemen / Aden
In 1948 the country which is now known as Yemen consisted of three different entities:
- The Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen ruled by King Ahmad bin Yahya Hamidaddin: referred to as ‘North Yemen’, independent since 1918.
- The British Crown Colony of Aden: a small (192 sq. km / 74 sq. mile) but strategically important port city in what is referred to as ‘South Yemen’, a British colony since 1839.
- The Aden Protectorate: a separately governed British Protectorate, since 1839, which consisted of the numerous small separate sheikhdoms which made up the remainder of what is referred to as ‘South Yemen’.
Yemenite Jews began arriving in Palestine in 1881 and 15,340 arrived in Palestine/British Mandate Palestine between the end of World War I and 1948. They usually worked in agriculture and sent money back to their families. They also sent letters urging their families to join them.
The Jewish Agency for Israel’s website states:
In the early years of the first wave of the Zionist return to the land of Israel, (the first Aliyah, which began in 1881), the Jews of Yemen were stirred by the news that Jews were returning in large numbers to the Holy Land, information which they tended to interpret in messianic terms. As a result, several thousand members of the community, (which was only a few tens of thousands strong) decided to make their way to the Land of Israel where they settled among tremendous hardship in and around Jerusalem.
The pattern repeated itself in a slightly different manner in the second decade of the twentieth century, when a representative of the pioneer settlers (chalutzim) came to Yemen to try and attract the Yemenites to go on Aliyah. Using traditional language and dressed in traditional Yemenite dress, he made an enormous impact on the community with his stories of the revival of the Jewish community in Zion. Thousands more Yemenites did leave for Eretz Yisrael in the years preceeding World War I. In fact, by 1948, over 20,000 Yemenites are considered to have made Aliyah, the highest proportion by far of any Diaspora community before the founding of the State of Israel.
The Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen was a feudal kingdom. It was ruled by a theocratic king, Yahya Muhammad Hamidaddin (Imam Yahya), from 1904 to 1948.
In 1948 there were no paved roads in North Yemen, essentially no schools, no Yemini doctors - only foreign doctors. The kingdom was mostly sealed off from the rest of the world.
There is a great deal of controversy about the ‘orphan law’ which Imam Yahya adopted. This is the abstract from an article in Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, Volume 29, Number 1, Fall 2010, titled ‘A Reconsideration of Imam Yahya's Attitude Toward Forced Conversion of Jewish Orphans in Yemen’. Shofar is published by Purdue University Press.
Abstract:
The twentieth century revival of a Zaydi law requiring the conversion of orphaned Yemeni Jewish children has been described in both popular and scholarly literature as exemplifying antisemitism and provoking emigration from Yemen. Recent scholarship has concluded that this law was implemented infrequently and sporadically. However, as of yet no serious attempt has been made to explain when and why Imam Yahya chose to enforce the Orphans' Decree. This article attempts to fill this lacuna by describing a coherent and consistent policy through which the Imam applied this decree, or protected against it, as a manifestation of his authority vis-à-vis rival Yemeni Muslim political authorities. It concludes that inter-Muslim political conflict and not the desire to persecute or convert Jews was the primary motivation for implementing the Decree.
An article from the ‘doingzionism.org.il’ website, which seems to be part of the Department for Zionist Activities of the World Zionist Organization states:
According to the pessimistic view of Yemenite Jewish history, from the 15th century onwards, intolerance worsened. Despised by many Muslims, Jews were the victims of occasional mob violence. (Helfritz 1935) At rimes, the religious and political authorities themselves violated the mandate to protect the Jews, as when in 1618, the Jews of Sharab were ordered to convert. In 1679, the Jews of Sana'a and Central Yemen were expelled from the main cities to a desolate area near the village of Mawza (hence the expression the galut of Mauza); their synagogues were destroyed or converted into mosques. Although they were later permitted to return for economic reasons, they were forbidden to settle outside the walls of a new ghetto. They were ordered to perform particularly degrading tasks, such as the obligation of the Jewish community of Sana'a to clean the city latrines. Jewish orphans, even if their mothers were still alive, were seized and converted. In 1725 and 1762, there were renewed attempts, though unsuccessful, at converting or expelling the Jews instigated by the religious authorities.
The alternative, more optimistic, view of Yemenite Jewish history does not deny discrimination but paints a more nuanced, less bleak, picture. The Jews ranked relatively high within the tribal system of Yemen. Many studies of traditional highland Yemen (Brauer 1934; Farago 1939) suggest a rigid order of social hierarchy. The term "caste" is used to apply to endogamous units defined by occupational trades and attendant prejudices. Within this system, the Jews were generally not ranked as low caste or "untouchable." (Gerholm 1977) Aside from being subject to paying a particularly higher jizya or "poll tax," Jews in Yemen were usually well treated, with soldiers protecting their synagogues and their quarters. (Goitein 1955) Muslims even made donations to encourage Jewish piety. Rural Jews, removed from the main centers of Zaydi control, generally fared even better within the various social groupings. The orphan decrees, restrictions on camel and donkey riding, forced removal of wastes by Jews from alleyways and Muslim home areas, and other similar restrictions were unknown in many rural regions. Yemenite Jews, who spoke Arabic and sang- even religious songs in both Hebrew and Arabic, especially the songs of the famous poet Shalom Shabbazi (16th century), felt at home in Yemen and adapted well to their environment.
Both the pessimists and the optimists agree that, in spite of the pressure of the Yemeni religious leader's to expel the Jews and the inclination of the imams to accede to their demands, the government in the main refrained from drastic actions on account of economic considerations. Despite everything, Yemenite Jewry flourished economically as professional goldsmiths and silversmiths and managers of the Royal Mint. With respect to this critical function, the rulers put greater trust in Jews than in Muslims. In other words, the hostile dictates of the religious leaders were implemented only so long as they did not conflict with political, social, and powerful economic interests. Recent history perhaps dramatizes the traditional economic importance of the Jews. The mass emigration of Yemenite Jews to Israel in 1948 may well have accelerated Yemen's economic decline and the resulting political instability that culminated in the successful revolution of 1967.
Most treatments of Jewish-Muslim interaction in the Arab world contrast the alleged openness of Morocco, for example, with the narrower opportunities for freedom available to Yemenite Jews. (Stillman 1979) Newer scholarship suggests a considerable revision of this picture. (Dallal 1999) Not only economically but culturally and politically, Yemenite Jews managed to structure an autonomous communal sphere and networks of influence; they were thus able to leverage the informal tolerance by Imam Yahya and his immediate successors to Jewish immigration from Yemen to Israel during the critical period of 1948 to 1950. Even earlier, Yemenite Jews who made aliyah were a more significant force in the development of the yishuv than portrayed by most modem historians of Zionism. (Halper 1991) Not all paths to Jewish modernity led through Europe or the Ashkenazi experience. (Meyer 2001; Goldberg 1996; Stillman 1995)
Imam Yahya was assassinated in an attempt by a rival tribe to seize power in 1948, His 57-year-old son, Ahmad bin Yahya Hamidaddin, was able to retake control of the kingdom a month later. During his reign King Ahmad very slowly opened his kingdom to the outside world.
Following the 1947 U.N. vote on the partition of the British Mandate for Palestine and accusations that Jews had murdered two local girls, anti-Jewish riots broke out in the British Crown Colony of Aden. According to reports, 82 Jews were killed and 76 were wounded, 114 of the 170 Jewish shops in Aden were looted, four synagogues were burned, 220 Jewish houses were burned, looted or damaged, and a Jewish girls’ school was gutted during the riots.
It is reported that 45,000 Jews lived in North Yemen and 8,700 lived in Aden in 1948.
The number of Jews in North Yemen is reported to have decreased to about 3,000 at the end of 1950.
The number of Jews in Aden is reported to have decreased to about 2,000 at the end of 1950.
Jews, and Muslims, began emigrating from North Yemen to Aden during a severe drought in North Yemen in 1942 and 1943. In April, 1949 the King of Yemen reached an agreement with Jewish representatives that the Jews in his kingdom could emigrate. His conditions were that they teach their trades to their Arab neighbors and leave their property behind. Many of them were blacksmiths, tool makers, pottery makers, tailors, and carpenters.
Most decided to go and then travelled mostly on foot, the standard means of travel in the region at the time, about 275 km to Aden. There are no reports of any incidents occurring during the journey.
In an operation known as Operation Magic Carpet, between June, 1949 and September, 1950 about 48,000 Yemenite Jews, along with about 500 Djiboutian and Eritrean Jews, were airlifted by British and American aircraft from Aden to Israel. The operation was organized and financed by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. A few articles mention that the airlift actually began in late 1948 but intensified in June, 1949.
There are reports that in 1949 the King of North Yemen refused Saudi Arabian demands that he return about 600 Jews who had just crossed into North Yemen from Najran, a Saudi Arabian province which neighbors North Yemen. Some or all of them then travelled on to Aden and were also airlifted.
The number of Jews in North Yemen is reported to have remained stable until 1962 and then to have decreased to 2,000 in 1963.
In 1962 the King of North Yemen died. His son, Crown Prince Muhammad al-Badr, then became the king, but the newly-crowned king was soon deposed in a coup and the Yemen Arab Republic was established. Following this the North Yemen Civil War began and it continued until 1970.
The number of Jews in North Yemen is reported to have remained stable until 1966 and then to have decreased to about 500 in 1967.
The number of Jews in Aden is reported to have gradually decreased to 150 in 1966 and then to have decreased to 0 in 1967.
In 1967, after 4 years of fierce anti-British armed rebellion, the British Crown Colony of Aden and the Aden Protectorate gained their independence and became the People's Republic of South Yemen, which then became the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen in 1970 after a radical Marxist group gained power.
The civil war in North Yemen, the armed rebellion in South Yemen, the departure of the British from Aden, and anti-Zionist protests in Aden following the 1967 Six-Day War all took their toll and in 1967 most of the remaining Jews in North Yemen and Aden emigrated.
Since 1967 the number of Jews in Yemen (North and South) is reported to have gradually decreased and to be about 300 currently.
In 1990 the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen) united to become the Republic of Yemen. Since then internal strife and violent clashes have continued and during the past decade there has been a rise in terrorist activity and anti-Jewish sentiment.
In 2009, with the cooperation of the government of Yemen, 60 of the remaining 360 Jews in Yemen were evacuated by and then resettled in the United States. It was reported that of the 300 who remained about 120 wanted to move to Israel, about 100 wanted to move to the U.S. and between 20 and 30 wanted to stay in Yemen.
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Libya
In 1948 Libya was under the administration of Britain and France.
Libya had become an Italian colony in 1911 and came under the control of the fascist Italian government of Benito Mussolini in 1922.
In World War II Libya was liberated in 1943 and after liberation two of Libya’s three regions, Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, were put under British administration and the third, Fezzan, was put under French administration. Most of the Jews in Libya lived in the British administered regions.
Before liberation thousands of Jews in Libya had been sent to concentration camps in both Libya and in Europe by the fascist Italian government.
Soon after liberation a close relationship between Jews in Libya and Jews in British Mandate Palestine began when soldiers serving in the Jewish units of the British Eighth Army in Libya requested and received help from the Jewish Agency, Mossad, the Hehalutz, and the Haganah to rebuild the Jewish community in Libya.
Their efforts and the efforts of other international Jewish organizations improved the general situation of the Jewish community in Libya and prepared many, especially the poorer ones, for eventual emigration to British Mandate Palestine.
In November, 1945 several anti-Jewish riots broke out in Libya. During the riots 130 Jews were killed and 450 were wounded. In addition, ten synagogues, 747 shops and 575 homes were burned and looted.
It is reported that about 34,000 Jews lived in Libya in 1948.
The number of Jews in Libya is reported to have decreased to about 4,000 at the end of 1951.
In June, 1948, a few weeks after Israel declared its independence, an anti-Zionist riot broke out in Tripoli. During this riot 14 Jews were killed, 24 were wounded and many homes were damaged. Seven Arabs were also killed during the riot.
Following the riots a request was made to the British Military Administration (BMA) to allow Jewish emigration from Libya and on February 2, 1949 the British officially approved Jewish emigration from Libya.
Emigration was organized by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and began almost immediately. By October, 1949 more than 3,000 Jews were emigrating per month.
The emigrants were able to take all of their portable possessions and money with them when they left. Most of those who had property did not sell it before emigrating because this would have glutted the market and caused the value of the properties to drop.
An officially recognized ‘Administrative Committee for the Immovable Assets of Emigrants’ was established in Tripoli and another was established in Benghazi to manage these properties. Their directors were appointed by the Jewish community councils. The committees managed the properties and disbursed rental and sales income from them to their owners through the agents which the each owner had appointed before leaving Libya.
In November, 1949 the U.N. passed a resolution which called for the establishment of a sovereign state which would include all three of the historic regions of Libya by January 1, 1952. On December 24, 1951 King Idris I proclaimed the independence of the United Kingdom of Libya.
Many of the Jews who remained in Libya after its independence were wealthy and lived comfortable lives which they did not want to give up. Most of these also had foreign citizenship, usually Italian, or were French or British subjects.
The number of Jews in Libya is reported to have gradually increased to about 5,500 in 1966 and then to have decreased to about 500 at the end of 1967.
Alderman A. Moss J.P. in a report written to the Board of Deputies of British Jews in March, 1957 described what he had seen during a recent trip to Libya. He stated that there were 4,300-4,400 Jews in Libya, 4,000 in Tripoli and 300-400 in Benghazi, that half of them were very poor and lived in hovels, and that about 20% were merchants and shopkeepers. He also stated that the Jews in Tripoli wanted to build a bigger synagogue and a new Jewish school building and needed financial assistance, and that “The ORT particularly could assist in organising technical courses for the children, so that they could be equipped for ultimate aliyah.”
There are reports, but not many details, that Jews in Libya began having problems with getting Libya citizenship in 1961.
There are also reports that the two ‘Administrative Committee for the Immovable Assets of Emigrants’ which had been established more than a decade earlier were put under government control in 1961.
On June 5, 1967, the day the Six-Day War began, anti-Western and anti-Zionist riots broke out in Libya.
In Tripoli and Benghazi there were violent demonstrations by dock workers, oil workers and students.
During the riots in Tripoli the U.S. and British Embassies and oil company offices were damaged. Italian and Jewish shops in the old town of Tripoli were set on fire.
During the riots in Benghazi the British Council and Jewish owned shops were among the buildings which were destroyed, and the American Consulate and the home of the American consul were burned.
Between June 5, 1967 and June 10, 1967 the U.S. Air Force evacuated about 7,000 U.S. citizens and citizens of other countries from Libya.
In Tripoli the government of Libya transported the poorer Jews to a camp four km from the city for their protection while the other Jews stayed in their homes under police protection, and in Benghazi the approximately 300 Jews who lived there were transported by the police to a military academy compound outside of the city for their protection.
During the riots 18 Jews were among those killed.
The Jewish community in Libya asked the Prime Minister to give the Jews who wanted to leave permission to leave until the situation calmed down, and to assist them in leaving, and the government agreed.
Exit visas and travel documents were prepared and transportation was arranged. Between the end of June, 1967 and the beginning of September, 1967 most of the Jews in Libya, who were still under police protection, were transported to the airport or port where they departed by airplane or ship. Most went to Italy and from there some of them continued on to Israel.
In the beginning they were allowed to take 20 British Pounds and one piece of luggage with them, which was the standard amount allowed for travelers leaving Libya at the time. The amount was later increased to 300 British Pounds. There were no restrictions placed on transferring funds through a bank.
A small number, the amount was not specified, later returned to retrieve the possessions they could.
The number of Jews in Libya is reported to have decreased to about 100 in 1968 and then to have gradually decreased until the last Jew in Libya is reported to have emigrated from Libya to Italy in 2003.
On September 1, 1969 a coup led by Muammar Gaddafi overthrew the government of Libya, deposed the king and established the Libyan Arab Republic.
In the following years a series of anti-Jewish laws were passed in Libya.
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This is the information which I could find in the time and with the resources I had available.
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http://www.jewishagency.org/...
http://muse.jhu.edu/...
http://www.doingzionism.org.il/...
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