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Iraqi, Bokharian, Moroccan Jews in Israel Oppose Monopoly on Cemeteries

March 25, 1959
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Spokesmen for Iraqi, Bokharian and Moroccan Jews in Israel warned today that they would stage street demonstrations, marching with the bodies of their dead, if they were not allowed to perform separate burials.

In giving this warning to the Ministry of Religions, the spokesmen accused the United Sephardi Burial Society with disregarding recent regulations which permit separate burial societies. The spokesmen said that, after a committee of such Jews had prepared final resting places for their dead, workers of the Sephardi Society filled the graves. The spokesmen said they could no longer tolerate such actions.

The spokesmen declared that the Sephardi Society insisted on a monopoly in supervision of the cemeteries, and refused to allow plots to “defectors. ” This, the spokesmen said, led to numerous quarrels and charges of grave-stealing.

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