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Rabat – Israel is expected to demand compensation from seven Arab countries for property Jews left behind when they immigrated to Israel.
Jews have reportedly left behind property with $250 billion when they were obliged to leave homes in Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and Yemen for Israel after Israeli independence in 1948.
Israeli Minister for Social Equality Gila Gamliel maintains that the Jews from the seven Arab countries experienced injustice and were forced to flee their countries.
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Speaking Saturday on Israeli television channel Hadashot News, Gamliel said, “The time has come to correct the historic injustice against the Jews from Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Yemen, and Iran – countries from which Jews were expelled.”
Gamliel added that she will coordinate efforts to obtain the compensation.
The minister estimated that Jews lost $250 billion in real estate when they mass-migrated between 1948 and 1960 to the newly-founded state, according to The Jerusalem Post.
Israel plans to request $35 billion from Tunisia and $15 billion from Libya but has not released the estimated amounts it will seek from other countries.
Israel released the $250 billion estimate in anticipation of the announcement of the Trump administration’s long-awaited peace plan for Israel and Palestine.
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However, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman announced Sunday that the plan would only be revealed in “several months.”
Israel is expected to demand the compensation as a condition of a regional peace deal based on a 2010 Israeli law which states that any peace deal with Arab countries or Iran is contingent on individual Jews or Jewish communities receiving compensation for property they lost in 1948.
Israel has been conducting discrete valuations of Jewish property in the seven countries during the past 18 months.
