A community of 350 Jews in the town of Kamisheli on the Turkey-Syria border is virtually imprisoned by Syrian authorities. Discrimination against them is severe and they are deprived from earning all but the most meagre livelihood. Most of them are dependent on whatever support the community receives from abroad. This information was disclosed here today by the World Union of Jewish Students’ action committee for Arab Jewry.
According to WUJS, Kamisheli’s Jews are restricted to a limited area of the town even in daylight and at night are confined to the Jewish ghetto. They are not permitted to leave the town without a special permit that can take as long as a month to obtain. Six of the families own grocery or other shops and are the only Jews earning a reasonable living. The others barely support themselves as laborers, servants or peddlers.
They are forbidden to join trade unions, are paid lower wages than non-Jews and can be dismissed without notice or compensation. A majority of the families live in a single room, the report said. There is no Jewish school in the town. Jewish children attend the government school. Only six are enrolled in high school. Part of Kamisheli’s only synagogue was taken over by the Syrian Army. Complaints from the Jewish congregants were ignored by the local authorities, the report said.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
