The World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries (WOJAC), founded in Paris this week, will act in behalf of the humanitarian, moral and material rights of the more than 700,000 Jews forced to flee Arab countries after the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the rights of their progeny, Knesset Deputy Speaker Mordechai Ben Porat told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today, Ben Porat, who is of Oriental background, was the initiator of the new organization.
He said its formation stemmed from routine discussions in the Knesset of the long dormant issue of Jewish refugees from Arab lands, With the heavy focus on rights of Palestinian refugees in international forums, the time is now ripe to bring the rights of Jewish refugees to the world’s attention, Ben Porat said.
He said WOJAC would act within the framework of Security Council Resolution 242 which calls for “a just solution of the refugee problem.” The text does not specifically identify refugees and Israel maintains that it refers to Jewish as well as Arab refugees.
Ben Porat noted that 586,286 Jews from Arab lands have settled in Israel and at least 200,000 more have emigrated to France, England and North and South America. Through natural increase, their numbers now amount to about 1,7 million.
WOJAC’s claim is that while many of these Jews went to Israel out of Zionist sentiments, they were, at the same time bona fide refugees forced by repression and persecution to leave the Arab countries of their birth and abandon not only centuries of established culture and tradition but a wealth of public and private property that has since been seized by the Arab authorities.
ISRAEL ABSORBED 600,000 REFUGEES
Ben Porat observed that Israel has absorbed nearly 600,000 of these refugees while the Arab states have taken in an almost identical number of Arabs who left Israel. In effect, this was an exchange of populations in the Middle East and WOJAC apparently intends to use that argument in balancing the claims of Jewish refugees against those of the Arabs. In addition, Ben Porat said, WOJAC will make every effort to increase the prospects of a Middle East peace settlement based on secure, recognized borders. The founding convention authorized the new organization to participate in all international forums debating the problem of Middle East refugees. It has the participation and enthusiastic support of the leaders of a number of Oriental Jewish communities who are among its founding members, Ben Porat said. WOJAC is expected to contribute to Israel’s political and informational efforts on the international scene, Within Israel, it is hoped, the new group will boost the communal pride and prestige of the Oriental Jewish community.
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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.
