A campaign has been launched to identify and quantify lost
Jewish property in Arab countries, both as a means to close
the historic chapter on Sephardi life in those countries and
to counter Arab claims for restitution for property in pre-
state Palestine.
The American Sephardi Federation, together with the World
Jewish Congress and the assistance of the government, has
already mailed questionnaires to 50,000 Sephardim, to help
identify personal property and schools, synagogues,
mikvaos, businesses, hospitals and cemeteries.
The countries involved are Libya, Morocco, Iraq, Syria,
Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon and Yemen. Some 800,000 Jews
fled those countries after 1948.
The question of abandoned property and restitution is sure to
arise in the final negotiations with the Palestinians.
Palestinian negotiators will demand the right of return for
refugees, or in the case of those not wishing to return,
compensation for their property, according to Hassan Asfour,
a negotiator.
He said this position is based on UN Resolution 194 (December
1948), which says that "the refugees wishing to return to
their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be
permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date and that
compensation should be paid for the property of those
choosing not to return."
"If claims to Arab property are raised, then obviously Israel
will have to counter them with claims to property that is
immeasurably greater," said David Bar- Illan, director of
policy planning and head of communications for Prime Minister
Binyamin Netanyahu, adding that it is impossible to calculate
the value of the property abandoned in the Arab countries.
