The question of compensation for Jews from Arab
countries could be decisive in securing an Israeli majority in
favour of a final-status peace agreement with the Palestinians.
According to a poll conducted by the Tami Steinmetz
Center for Peace Research and the Palestinian Center for Public
Opinion, a startling 40 percent of those who opposed the
parameters of a peace deal would switch to supporting it if the
issue of Jews from Arab countries were on the table.
Forty-eight percent of Israelis (41 percent of Jews and
88 percent of Arab citizens) and 42 percent of Palestinians in the
occupied territories said they support this outline.
The poll also included “incentives” to understand what
influences the views of both sides on a potential agreement. One
was: And if the Jews who left their homes and property in the
Arab countries when they had to leave following the 1948 War and
the establishment of the state of Israel will be compensated for
the lost assets left behind? If 40 percent of Jewish
Israelis who opposed the agreement were willing to
change their minds if the agreement also includes
compensation for Jewish refugees from Arab countries, this
incentive would 'tip the scales'.
Stan Urman, executive director of Justice for Jews from
Arab Countries, calls the finding 'astonishing.' He points out
that it that more Israelis chose this incentive than any other,
more than 'Israel being recognized as a Jewish state' and even
'access to Jerusalem's Jewish holy sites.'
"Without this clause, " says Dr Urman, " there is no
majority in favour; with it, a strong majority of Israelis would
support the peace agreement."
As the poll was funded by the EU, Dr Urman is confident
that JJAC could now approach European countries and show them
their own statistics which reveal that rights for Jewish refugees
from Arab countries are central to acceptance of any peace
agreement by Israel and Israelis.
This is a positive and hopeful research, that the uprooting of the Jews from Arab countries and their compensation as refugees could swing the support in Israel for a Peace Deal with the Palestinians. However, as I have shown in my own research and my own books, the cruel uprooting of the Jews from Arab Countries is not only a question of money re-compensation, it is also a historical and political subject that has been totally neglected, and that should be a landmark for reconciliation and peace between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors. You are invited to watch my film on this subject: THE POMEGRANATE OF RECONCILIATION AND HONOR, on YoutTube. And my book: FROM THE NILE TO THE JORDAN is a Bestseller on www.amazon.com
ReplyDeletePROF. ADA AHARONI
Do I or anyone want my ancestor's home in Baghdad, Basra, Hal'b, Damascus, Cairo, Iskandariya, Tripoli, Oran, Constantine, Alger, Tetouan, Kairouan, Beirut?? hahahahaha what for? Thinking of going back? hahahahahahahaha
ReplyDeleteFirst thing, they will ask me proof that it was so or where it was. No idea and even if I had, I would be in the hands of the local bakhshish-grabber whose confirmation will be required. Let's not be silly... Everything has been erased voluntarily and officially in the arab countries. they know; we know.
What we want is the recognition of ETHNIC CLEANSING of Jews (then, now... other minorities) in the Arab countries. An out right admission that there are TWO peoples who lost their homes in this feud. In fact a recognition that what actually happened is a POPULATION EXCHANGE (see historic precedents, the Atatürk-Venizelos agreement and the settlement at the 1947 Partition of India. No compensation is actually owed to either side.) Period.
That settles the "palestinian" issue of compensation too.
Israelis probably view this differently but they certainly have NO IDEA where their grandparents' home might have been.