JJAC
Testifies at UN in Geneva
United
Nations Human Rights Council Confronted
by a Jewish Forgotten Refugee
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GENEVA,
(March 19, 2008) - For decades, the United Nations has ignored
the plight of Jewish refugees from Arab countries. Now they are
no longer be able to do so. For the first time ever, appearing
in Geneva at the United
Nations Human Rights Council, was a Jewish refugee from
an Arab country, Regina Bublil-Waldman, who fled Libya in 1967,
in fear of her life.
Also
appearing was Sylvain Abitbol, Co-President of the Canadian
Jewish Congress who is originally from Morocco and Stanley
A. Urman, Executive Director of Justice for Jews from Arab
Countries.
Celebrating
her heritage, Mrs. Bublil-Waldman appeared wearing her grandmothers
Libyan wedding dress. At the same time, she was mourning
the loss of her heritage, as in 1948, there were 36,000 Jews living
in Libya. Today, there are none left. Ms. Bublil-Waldman ultimately
resettled in the United States where she founded JIMENA
(Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa).
Mr.
Abitbol brought a message of hoped-for peace and reconciliation.
He recalled that King Muhammad V intervened to protect Jews living
in Morocco from the Nazi regime. While recognizing the historical
plight faced by Jews who lived for millennia in Arab countries,
Mr. Abitbol expressed the hope that these displaced Jews can serve
as an important bridge to the Arab world, much as he does now
in his business and community life.
A
Report
entitled Justice for Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries:
The Case for Rights and Redress was presented to the
United Nations Human Rights Council. Published by Justice for
Jews from Arab Countries, the Report contains documents - recently
discovered in the U.N. archives - that reveal a pattern of state-sanctioned
oppression that precipitated the mass exodus of Jews from 10 Arab
countries.
The
Report discloses the pernicious and prejudicial role played by
the U.N. in excluding Jewish refugees from Arab countries from
the justice and peace agenda said Stanley Urman, Executive
Director of Justice for Jews from Arab Countries. This is
not just a case of justice delayed, but justice denied. Indeed,
the displacement of 850,000 Jews from Arab countries is not just
a Forgotten Exodus but a Forced Exodus.
Editors
note:
Photo
available at: http://www.justiceforjews.com/geneva-1.jpg
Waldman
speech: http://www.justiceforjews.com/un-speech.pdf
Lhistoire
des réfugiés palestiniens mérite l'attention
internationale. Il en va de même de celle du million de
réfugiés juifs suite au conflit arabo-israélien.
Pourtant, les Nations Unies ont consacré dinnombrables
résolutions et débats à un seul aspect de
cette histoire et totalement ignoré lautre. Pour
la première fois, lors de la récente séance
de clôture du Conseil des Droits Humains de lONU,
la souffrance des réfugiés juifs des pays arabes
avait été inscrite à lordre du jour
international. Peu de temps plus tard, le Congrès américain
a adopté une résolution historique reconnaissant
que toutes les victimes du conflit doivent être traitées
de la même manière.
Racisme
et vérités historiques". L'ONU entend enfin
parler des réfugiés juifs des pays arabes