Amidst all the crocodile tears shed for the so called Palestinian Arab refugees who supposedly were expelled upon the creation of Israel in 1948, little attention has been paid to those Jews who really were expelled or forced to flee from Arab/Muslim countries where they and their ancestors had lived for centuries.
In an ironic offshoot of the forthcoming Iraqi elections, there is a bittersweet reminder, as approximately 290,000 Israeli Jews are eligible to vote in these elections.
Anybody holding Iraqi citizenship, whether he/she was born in Iraq, or was born to an Iraqi father, is eligible to vote, according to Iraqi law. An estimated 290,000 Israelis are therefore eligible to vote.
Not that many of them will of course because
In order to exercise that right, however, one must report to the nearest polling station — which in the case of Israelis is in Jordan.
And as reality strikes
It is likely that the coming elections, being organized by the Iraqi interim government, will have in place measures to prevent the participation of Israeli Jews.
But the former Iraqi Jewish refugees, many of who have created good lives for themselves in Israel, have been free to vote in Israel for years. What a pity that Moslems haven't worked similarly for their people, focusing instead on hatreds and wars.
Ethel C. Fenig 12 12 05
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