History of the Jews in the Arabian Peninsula

The history of the Jews in the Arabian Peninsula reaches back to Biblical times. The Arabian Peninsula is defined as including parts of:

*Iraq and Jordan in geographic terms.

In political terms, the following countries are politically considered part of the peninsula:
*Bahrain (an island nation off the east coast of the peninsula)
*Kuwait
*Oman
*Qatar
*Saudi Arabia
*United Arab Emirates (a federation of seven states: Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain)
*Yemen.

History of the Jews in Iraq

The history of the Jews in Iraq is documented over twenty-six centuries, from the time of the Babylonian captivity c. 600 BCE, as noted in the Hebrew Bible and other historical evidence from the period, to modern Iraq. Iraqi Jews constitute one of the world's oldest and most historically significant Jewish communities.

In the 1930s, the situation of the Jews in Iraq deteriorated. Previously, the growing Iraqi Arab nationalist sentiment included Iraqi Jews as fellow Arabs, but these views changed with the introduction of Nazi propaganda and the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian Mandate. Despite protestations of their loyalty to Iraq, Iraqi Jews were increasingly subject to discrimination and harsh laws. On August 27, 1934 many Jews were dismissed from public service, and quotas were set up in colleges and universities. Zionist activities were banned, as was the teaching of Jewish history and Hebrew in Jewish schools. Following Rashid Ali's pro-Axis coup, the Farhud ("violent dispossession") pogrom of June 1 and 2, 1941, broke out in Baghdad in which approximately 200 Jews were murdered (some sources put the number higher), and up to 2,000 injured -- damages to property were estimated at $3 million. There was also looting in many other cities at around the same time. Afterwards, Zionist emissaries from Palestine were sent to teach Iraqi Jews self-defense, which they were eager to learn. ." (Simon, Reguer, and Laskier, p. 364)

From 1950 to 1952, Operation Ezra and Nehemiah airlifted 120,000 Iraqi Jews to Israel via Iran and Cyprus. By 1968 only 2,000 Jews remained in Iraq. Today less than 100 Jews remain, all of whom live in Baghdad.

History of the Jews in Jordan

In Biblical times, much of the geography now in Jordan was part of the history of the Jews in the Land of Israel. According to the Hebrew Bible three of the Israelites' ancient tribes lived on the territory that is today known as Jordan: The Tribe of Reuben, the Tribe of Gad and the Tribe of Manasseh.

Since its 1516 incorporation in the Ottoman Empire, it was part of the" vilayet" (province) of Damascus-Syria until 1660, next of the "vilayet" of Saida (Sidon), briefly interrupted by the 7 March 1799 - July 1799 French occupation of Jaffa, Haifa, and Caesarea.

During the siege of Acre in 1799, Napoleon prepared a proclamation declaring a Jewish state in Palestine. On 10 May 1832 it was one of the Turkish provinces annexed by Muhammad Ali's shortly imperialistic Egypt (nominally still Ottoman), but in November 1840 direct Ottoman rule was restored.

The British Balfour Declaration of 1917 promised both sides of the Jordan River to the Jewish people, but that was changed by the Churchill White Paper which created a split between the British Mandate of Palestine and Transjordan. Following the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine of 1947, Jordan was one of the Arab countries that attacked the new Jewish state of Israel. It gained some victories but it was eventually defeated during the Six-Day war when it attacked Israel again. Jordan eventually signed the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace.

History of the Jews in Bahrain

Bahrain's tiny Jewish community, mostly the descendants of immigrants who entered the country in the early 1900s from Iraq, numbered 600 in 1948. Over the next few decades, most left for other countries, especially England; some 36 remain (as of 2006.) [http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=17183&intcategoryid=1]

Relations between Jews and Muslims are generally considered good, with Bahrain being the only state on the Arabian peninsula where there is a specific Jewish community. Bahrain is the only Gulf state with a synagogue. One member of the community, Rouben Rouben, who sells TV sets, DVD players, copies, fax machines and kitchen appliances from his downtown showroom, said “95 percent of my customers are Bahrainis, and the government is our No. 1 corporate customer. I’ve never felt any kind of discrimination.”

Members play a prominent role in civil society: Ebrahim Nono was appointed in 2002 a member of Bahrain's upper house of parliament, the Consultative Council, while a Jewish woman heads a human rights group, the Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society. According to the JTA news agency, the active Jewish community is "a source of pride for Bahraini officials". [http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=17183&intcategoryid=1]

History of the Jews in Kuwait

The history of the Jews in Kuwait is connected to the history of the Jews in Iraq. In 1776 Sadeq Khan captured Basra, many of the inhabitants left the country and among them were tJews who went to Kuwait. With the Jews' efforts, the country flourished with its buildings and trades. Around 1860, their number increased and their trade flourished. They were mostly wholesalers and worked with India - Baghdad and Aleppo. They even exported to Europe and China. There were about 80 Jewish families in Kuwait living in one district where the Bank of Trade. They had their own Synagogue with their Sefer Torah. In the Synagogue, they had separate place for the women. Saturday is a sacred day. Jews didn't work that day. They also had their own Cemetery which shows that they lived there for a long time. Kuwait's population is now thirty five thousand and most of them are Arabs. Before 1914 there were about 200 Jews. Most of them went back to Baghdad and few went to India. There were two wealthy Jews in Kuwait but the rest were middle class, being Jewellers or material traders. [cite web |publisher= dangoor.com |title= "History of the Jews in Kuwait" |url=http://www.dangoor.com/issue78/articles/78068.htm] .

History of the Jews in Oman

The history of the Jews in Oman goes back many centuries. There was a Jewish presence in Oman for many centuries, however, the Jewish community in Oman is no longer existent. Some early Jewish biblical is associated with the biblical figure Job. The Tomb of Job is located 45 miles from the port city of Salalah. The documented Omani Jewish community was made famous by Ishaq bin Yahuda, a merchant who lived in the 9th century. Bin Yahuda lived in Sohar, and sailed for China between the years of 882 and 912 after an argument with a Jewish colleague, where he made a great fortune. He returned to Shoar and sailed for China again, but his ship was seized and bin Yahuda was murdered at the port of Sumatra.

In the mid 19th century, the British Lieutenant J.R. Wellsted documented the Jews of Muscat in his memoirs "Travels in Arabia, vol. 1". He mentions that there are "a few Jews in Muskat (sic), who mostly arrived there in 1828, being driven from Baghdad . . .by the cruelties and extortions of the Pacha Daud." He also notes that Jews were not discriminated against at all in Oman, which was not the case in other Arab countries. Despite the lack of persecution in Oman, the community is believed to have disappeared before 1900.

During World War II, a Jewish American Army enlisted man, Emanuel Glick, encountered a small community of Omani Jews in Muscat, but this community consisted mostly of recent migrants from Yemen.

History of the Jews in Qatar

There are few Jews in Qatar, but the Anti-Defamation League has protested the existence of anti-judaic stereotypes in Qatar’s newspapers. [cite web |publisher= unpan1.un.org |title= "Countries at the Crossroads: Country Profile of Qatar" |url=http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:ydbZ3wtEy6EJ:unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/NISPAcee/UNPAN016205.pdf+%22Jews+in+Qatar%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us]

As an indication of the opening up of Qatari society to Western influence, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that a forum on U.S.-Islamic relations in Qatar will feature Israeli and U.S. Jewish participants. Former President Clinton and [Sheik Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the emir of Qatar, are the scheduled keynote speakers at the Jan.10-12 U.S.-Islamic Forum in Doha. The forum is sponsored by the Project on U.S. Policy Towards the Islamic World, funded by the Saban center, which was founded by American-Israeli entertainment mogul Haim Saban. [cite web |publisher= Cleveland Jewish News.com|title= Israelis, U.S. Jews in Qatar|url=http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/articles/2003/12/29/news/world/aaa.txt]

A news report describes the preparations for US troops stationed in Qatar: "NEW YORK - The Jewish members of America's armed forces will again receive kosher K-rations this Pesach throughout the holiday, provided by the U.S. Defense Department...Each chaplain stationed in Iraq will hold two seders at base camps, with central seders taking place in Baghdad, Falluja and Tikrit. There will also be two seders at the army headquarters in Bahrain, and air force headquarters in Qatar. Jewish soldiers stationed in remote locations will be able to attend seders led by soldiers who received special training for that purpose." [cite web |publisher= jewishtoronto.net|title= Jewish soldiers in Iraq get kosher Pesach rations|url=http://www.jewishtoronto.net/page.html?ArticleID=104631]

History of the Jews in Saudi Arabia

The first mention of Jews in the area of what is today Saudi Arabia dates back, by some accounts, to the time of the First Temple. By the 6th and 7th centuries there was a considerable Jewish population in Hejaz, mostly in and around Medina, in part because of the embrace of Judaism by such leaders as Dhu Nuwas.

There were three main Jewish tribes in Medina, forming the most important Hejazi community before the rise of Islam in Arabia. These were the Banu Nadir, the Banu Qainuqa, and the Banu Qurayza.

There is virtually no Jewish activity in Saudi Arabia today. Public worship of all religions but Islam is strictly forbidden.

However, US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the first Jewish person to hold that position, came to Saudi Arabia on ten official trips on diplomatic missions on behalf of the United States. [cite web |publisher=U.S. Department of State |date=December 21, 2007| title= Saudi Arabia|url= http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/trvl/st/13105.htm]

During the Gulf War (1990-1991), when approximately a half million US military personal assembled in Saudi Arabia, and many were then stationed there, there were many Jewish US service personnel in Saudi Arabia. It is reported that the Saudi government insisted that Jewish religious services not be held on their soil but that Jewish soldiers be flown to nearby US warships [cite web |publisher=Alpha Books |date=December 21, 2007 |title= The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Saudi Arabia |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=h4dle6jcr68C&pg=PA109&ots=6HgbE3lWPh&dq=jewish+us+soldiers+in+saudi+arabia+during+gulf+war&sig=4K4hjLmkxsn7te29hqwcdi28eEc] .

History of the Jews in the United Arab Emirates

In recent years the United Arab Emirates has adopted an anti-judaic policy to Jewish academics and authors from other countries who may have had to come to its territory." [cite web |publisher= highbeam.com |title= "British school bans books by Jews from its campus in the Persian Gulf"|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-23666718.html]

In July 2000, the Harvard Divinity School accepted $2.5 million from the ruler of the United Arab Emirates, Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. In 2002, the Zayed Center published a report on the Holocaust that said Zionists - not Nazis - "were the people who killed the Jews in Europe." [cite web |Boston Globe |title= "Harvard Must Give Back Tainted Money" |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=BG&p_theme=bg&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0FD5B22EB2D07DD5&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM] The United States Department of State stated that the center published some books with themes such as "The Zionist Movement and its Animosity to Jews" and "Al Buraq Wall, Not Wailing Wall." It also allowed some language on its website, and hosted some speakers who promoted anti-Semitic views. [cite web |publisher= US Dept. of State |title= "United Arab Emirates: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices"|url=http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27940.htm]

The were new diplomatic openings to the US, Israel and Jews by the United Arab Emirates as reported in the media. In an article in USA Today "Arabs try outreach to Israel, U.S. Jews", 2007, it is reported that: " Arab states, led by Saudi Arabia, are making some of their most public overtures ever to Israel and American Jews in an effort to undercut Iran's growing influence, contain violence in Iraq and Lebanon and push for a Palestinian solution...Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have stepped up contacts with Israel and pro-Israel Jewish groups in the USA. [cite web |publisher= USA Today |title= "Arabs try outreach to Israel, U.S. Jews"|url=http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-02-11-arabs-outreach_x.htm]

History of the Jews in Yemen

Local Yemenite Jewish traditions have traced the earliest settlement of Jews in this region back to the time of King Solomon. One explanation is that King Solomon sent Jewish merchant marines to Yemen to prospect for gold and silver with which to adorn the Temple in Jerusalem. Another legend places Jewish craftsmen in the region as requested by Bilqis, the Queen of Saba (Sheba). The immigration of the majority of Jews into Yemen appears to have taken place about the beginning of the second century C.E., although the province is mentioned neither by Josephus nor by the main books of the Jewish oral law, the Mishnah and Talmud.

The average Jewish population of Yemen for the first five centuries C.E. is said to have been about 3,000. The Jews were scattered throughout the country, but carried on an extensive commerce and thus succeeded in getting possession of many Jewish books. Three pseudo-messiahs later appeared: Shukr Kuhayl I (1861–65), Shukr Kuhayl II (1868–75), Joseph Abdallah (1888–93).

Emigration from Yemen to Palestine began in 1881 and continued almost without interruption until 1914. It was during this time that about 10% of the Yemenite Jews left. Due to the changes in the Ottoman Empire citizens could move more freely and in 1869 travel was improved with the opening of the Suez Canal, which shorted the travel time from Yemen to Palestine. From 1881 to 1882 a few hundred Jews left Sanaa and several nearby settlements. This wave was followed by other Jews from central Yemen who continued to move into Palestine until 1914. The majority of these groups moved into Jerusalem and Jaffa. Before World War I there was another wave that began in 1906 and continued until 1914.

The State of Israel at the beginning of 1948 initiated Operation Magic Carpet and airlifted most of Yemen's Jews to Israel.

References

ee also

*Abrahamic religion
*Arab Jews
*Arab states of the Persian Gulf
*Babylonian captivity
*History of the Jews under Muslim rule
*Islam and antisemitism
*Jewish exodus from Arab lands
*Jews outside Europe under Nazi occupation
*Judaism and Islam
*List of Jews from the Arab World
*Mizrahi Jews

The ten families

*The ten families refers to the Arabic non-Jewish families or tribes that have ruled the Persian Gulf, with the exception of Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The standard Arabic reference to a tribe is "bani fulan", literally translated as "the sons of so-and-so". A majority of the families in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are part of the "Bani Yas" tribe whose origin can be traced back to Yas Bin Amer of the Nizar Bin Maid bin Adnan tribe. The ten families are:
*Al Sabah family in Kuwait
*Al Khalifa family in Bahrain
*Al Thani family in Qatar
*Al Nahayan family in Abu Dhabi
*Al Nuaimi family in Ajman
*Al Sharqi family in Fujairah
*Al Maktoum family in Dubai
*Al Qasimi family in Sharjah and Ras al-Khaimah
*Al Mualla family in Umm al-Qaiwain
*Al Said family in Muscat and Oman