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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Libya
Index
Jewish colonies were firmly established in both Cyrenaica and
Tripoli before the Christian era. The Jews lived amicably with the
Muslims until increasing pressure for a Jewish homeland after World
War II caused violent anti-Jewish reactions throughout the Arab
world. During the late 1940s, most of the Jewish population
departed, many to take up residence in the new state of Israel.
Anti-Jewish violence erupted in Tripoli in 1967, and in 1970 the
revolutionary government confiscated most remaining Jewish property , subject to compensation in government bonds. In the 1970s fewer
than 100 members remained of a Jewish community that had numbered
35,000 in 1948.
A residual Italian community of nearly 30,000 continued to live
in Libya during the 1960s, a majority in Tripoli and most of the
remainder on farms in the surrounding area. A 1960 law had
discouraged foreign residents by prohibiting their acquisition of
additional land, and immediately after the 1969 revolution a number
of new restrictions were imposed upon them. In 1970 the
revolutionary government issued a declaration that it would
"restore to the Libyan people" the properties taken by Italians
during the colonial period. Assurances of personal safety were
given to foreigners, but nearly all of the Italians departed
immediately, although some returned later.
The European community in Libya in 1986 amounted to 40,000
persons, a decline of more than half from the levels of 1984-85.
Included in this figure were 100 to 300 Americans, most employed in
the oil industry.
Data as of 1987
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