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Jerusalem, (AKI) - Iraqi Jewish leaders, many of
them descendents of Iraq's Jewish community most of
whom left the country in the 1950's, will gather in
London next month to work out a strategy on how to
obtain compensation from the Iraqi government for
lost assets.
Two meetings have been scheduled for September 18
and 19 in the English capital, the Jerusalem Post
daily reported on Wednesday. "The Jews left behind
hospitals, schools, cemeteries, shopping markets,"
Iraqi-born Jew Mordechai Ben-Porat, chairman of
Israel's Centre for the Heritage of Babylonian
Jewry, told the Jerusalem Post.
Ben-Porat, was a leader of the Zionist underground
movement in Iraq from its inception in 1942 until he
immigrated to Israel in 1945. From 1949 to 1951 he
worked with the Israeli Mossad secret service to
take care of Jewish immigration. During that period,
he collected a list of the Jewish communal property
in Baghdad and Hila.
While he refused to reveal how much he believed the
properties were worth, "before sitting at the
negotiation table." according to some estimates the
value of the properties could be worth billions of
dollars.
The Iraqi Jewish community was among the largest
Jewish Diaspora communities in the Arab world,
numbering some 140,000, but most of the community
left Iraq between 1950 and 1952, after the creation
of the State of Israel. They left behind homes,
businesses and large pieces of land. Most of those
assets were frozen, some were taken by the
government and some were sold.
Ben-Porat also wants the Iraqi government to restore
Jewish graves, particularly those of Jewish
religious figures around Iraq. "We know the tombs
are in very bad shape," he said, claiming he had
photos and videos to prove it.
The group also plans to demand that Iraqi synagogues
and cemeteries be cared for.
According to Ben-Porat some of Baghdad's 53
synagogues have been rented by Iraqis who still pay
their rent to an old Jewish woman who is the
accountant for the 16-member Jewish community in
Iraq.
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