tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12677825.post2919221342460867763..comments2024-03-29T11:39:42.348+00:00Comments on Point of No Return: Jewish Refugees from Arab and Muslim Countries: Reject the expression 'Arab Jew'Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12677825.post-36900705854435382592010-09-21T13:36:14.452+01:002010-09-21T13:36:14.452+01:00Most of arab countries population are ethnically n...Most of arab countries population are ethnically not arabs. North african are berbers, lebanese are phenician, many syrian are in fact kurds or assyrian, iraqis are babylonian or chaldean ect... What we call arab mean arabic speakers. The only arabs are the people from the north part of the arabic peninsula. So I could admit that Yemenite jews are more arab than any algerian or lebanese muslim.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12677825.post-18154255295537497392009-07-05T16:08:16.454+01:002009-07-05T16:08:16.454+01:00Ami Isseroff's excellent essay on the expressi...Ami Isseroff's excellent essay on the expression "Arab Jew" (with refer-back to Bataween) is <a href="http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2009/06/so-called-arab-jews.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>.<br /><br />[Please excuse any duplication.]IndependentObservernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12677825.post-80287895242809274962008-02-22T08:26:00.000+00:002008-02-22T08:26:00.000+00:00I agree. How can one characterise Jews in Egypt as...I agree. How can one characterise Jews in Egypt as 'Arab' Jews when many Egyptian non-Jews are not comfortable being described as 'Arab'? The same goes for Berbers in the Maghreb countries.bataweenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15829104245735619972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12677825.post-28640680636223076912008-02-22T01:02:00.000+00:002008-02-22T01:02:00.000+00:00Arab Jews or Egyptian Jews?Usually I am not keen t...Arab Jews or Egyptian Jews?<BR/><BR/>Usually I am not keen to participate in debates. But here I make an exception.<BR/>Following the recent debate on whether the Jews from Arab countries are considered Arab Jews or else, I couldn’t help but write my thoughts on the subject. I am writing in particular where Egyptian Jews are concerned, and this may also apply for Jews from other Arab speaking countries.<BR/><BR/> The Jews in the Middle East existed in the lands of this region long before the Arab conquest after Islam began. Being a descendant of a an old Jewish community in Egypt, it is claimed that this community was in existence in Egypt before the conquest of the Arabs by Amr Ibn Al’As عمرو بن العاص in 640 CE. Most of the Jews of Egypt identified themselves with Egypt and spoke the Arabic language which is the language of the land. This doesn’t make them Arabs. The notion of Egypt being an Arab country started only after the Gamal Abdel Nasser coup in 1952 when he aspired to join with Syria as one country and changed the name of Egypt to “The Arab Republic of Egypt”. The change had also a personal ambitious motif to claim the leadership of other Arabic speaking countries in the region. <BR/><BR/>Most of the intellectual Egyptians at that time expressed their opposition to the change knowing that the change meant the denial of the rich ancient and modern civilisation of Egypt. <BR/><BR/>The prominent writer and thinker Taha Hussein (1889-1973) vigorously opposed to the notion of associating Egypt to Arabism. I quote below Hussein’s writings in Arabic in this regard:<BR/>إن الفرعونية متأصلة في نفوس المصريين ، وستبقى . بل يجب أن تبقى وتقوى . والمصري فرعوني قبل أن يكون عربيا . ولا يُطلب من مصر أن تتخلى عن فرعونيتها ، وإلا كان معنى ذلك : اهدمي يا مصر أبا الهول والأهرام ، انسي نفسك واتبعينا . لا تطلبوا من مصر أكثر مما تستطيع أن تعطي .. مصر لن تدخل في وحدة عربية ؛ سواء أكانت العاصمة القاهرة أم دمشق أم بغداد . وأؤكد قول أحد الطلبة القائل : لو حال الإسلام بيننا وبين فرعونيتنا لنبذناه " . <BR/><BR/>“Pharaonism is rooted within the Egyptians and it should stay and enforced. The Egyptian is a Pharaoh before being Arab. It is inconceivable to ask Egypt to renounce her Pharaohnic roots because that means: Demolish O’Egypt the Sphynx and the Pyramids, forget your past and follow us. Do not ask Egypt more that she can give.. Egypt will not enter into an Arab Unity; regardless whether the capital is Cairo, Damascus or Baghdad.” <BR/><BR/>In short, I conclude that there is no basis for the claim that Jews of the Middle East who lived in Arab lands were Arab Jews.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com