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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Lebanon
Index
Lebanese Jews historically have been an integral part of the
Lebanese fabric of confessional communities. In 1947, they were
estimated to number 5,950. After the creation of the state of
Israel in 1948, Lebanese Jews did not feel compelled to emigrate
because they enjoyed a prosperous status in Lebanese society and
had been granted equal rights by law with other citizens. Moreover,
they suffered no harm during the anti-Zionist demonstrations of
1947 and 1948. However, the intensification of the Arab-Israeli
conflict politicized attitudes toward local Jews, who were often
associated with the policies of Israel. In the early 1950s their
synagogue in Beirut was bombed, and the Lebanese Chamber of
Deputies witnessed heated debates on the status of Lebanese Jewish
army officers. The discussions culminated in a unanimous resolution
to expel and exclude them from the Lebanese Army.
During the June 1967 War, Lebanese authorities stationed guards
in Jewish districts, when hostility toward Lebanese Jews became
overt. Several hundred chose to leave the country; until 1972 Jews
were free to leave the country with their money and possessions.
During the 1975 Civil War, the Palestine Liberation Organization
(PLO) and Lebanese leftist-Muslim forces posted militia in the
Jewish neighborhood of Wadi Abu Jamil, that housed what remained of
the dwindling Jewish community, estimated to number less than
3,000. Nevertheless, the rise of Muslim fundamentalists, especially
in the aftermath of the Israeli invasion of 1982, constituted a
real threat to Lebanese Jews. Organizations such as the Khaybar
Brigades and the Organization of the Oppressed of the Earth claimed
responsibility for kidnapping and killing several Lebanese Jews
between 1984 and 1987. As of 1987 it was estimated that only a
dozen Jews remained in West Beirut, and some seventy others in the
eastern sector of the city.
Data as of December 1987
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