About Us

IMRA
IMRA
IMRA

 

Subscribe

Search


...................................................................................................................................................


Saturday, May 28, 2016
Excerpts: Tunisia:Pilgrimage to Africa's oldest Jewish temple. Hamas re Gaza death penalty May 26, 2016

Excerpts: Tunisia:Pilgrimage to Africa's oldest Jewish temple. Hamas re Gaza
death penalty May 26, 2016


+++SOURCE:Al Arabiya News 5/26/’16:”Tunisia: Pilgrimage to Africa’s oldest
Jewish temple starts 5/25]16”,by Staff Writer and Agence France Presse

SUBJECT:Annual Lag BaOmerPilgrimage to Africa’s oldest Jewish temple



FULL TEXT:Annual pilgrimage to Africa’s oldest synagogue got under way
Wednesday in Tunisia where security forces were deploed heavily to ward off
potential terrorist attacks.

Jews worldwide travel to the Ghriba synagogue in Tunisia’s Djerba Island to
celebrate the annual Lag BaOmer Jewish festival, that began on Wednesday.

Perez Trabelsi, chairman of the Ghriba synagogue board told Al Arabiya
English News that authorities are expecting up to 2,000 people to take part
in this ‘unique’ event.

The pilgrimage lasts for six days and features rituals such as writing
wishes on hard-boiled eggs, which are then placed near a stone brought from
Jerusalem 2,600 years ago, according to Trabelsi.

During the annual Lag BaOmer festival, the streets throng with Jewish
pilgrims who ‘venerate’ Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, a second-century mystic,
Trabelsi said.

Djerba is home to roughly 1,700 Jews.

The Jewish community in the resort island, trace their roots all the way
back to Babylonian exile of 586 B.C.

According to Talmudic culture, Ghriba synagogue is the oldest Jewish temple
in Africa. It is located in the village of Hara Sghira in Djerba, an island
off the coast of southern Tunisia.

The synagogue's name means "strange" or "miraculous” in the Tunisian
language.

Tunisia's Jewish population has dwindled from 100,000 in 1956, when the
country won independence from France, to less than 1,500, mainly as a result
of emigration to France and Israel.

Unlike the rest of the Arab world, Tunisian Jews have seen little
persecution and have rarely been targeted by extremists.

n 2000, the number of pilgrims reached 10,000, but a deadly al-Qaeda attack
outside the synagogue in 2002 caused numbers to drop.

Since then, the neighborhood and the synagogue are heavily guarded by
police.

In 2010, 4,000 visitors attended, however the 2011 revolution, caused the
number to decrease substantially due to worries about the country’s security
situation.

In 2014, Tunisian government decided to allow Israeli citizens to enter the
country despite lack of formal diplomatic ties with Israel.

with AFP



+++SOURCE:Jordan Times 5/26/’16:”Hamas lawmakers say Gaza executions can
occur without Abbas okay”,by Agence France Presse

SUBJECT:Hamas re Gaza death penalty

QUOTE:”death penalty to be carried out in Gaza without the consent of
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

FULL TEXT:GAZA — Hamas members of the Palestinian parliament on
Wednesday[5/25] said they had approved a measure allowing the death penalty
to be carried out in Gaza without the consent of Palestinian President
Mahmoud Abbas.

The move comes after Hamas officials said they were planning a series of
public executions in the Gaza Strip.

The decision was announced in a statement from parliament members in Gaza,
but it was unclear how many lawmakers of the Hamas-dominated Palestinian
Legislative Council were in attendance or how they claimed the authority to
rule.

The full Palestinian Legislative Council has not met since Islamist movement
Hamas took over the Gaza Strip in June 2007, ousting Fatah forces loyal to
Abbas.

In theory all execution orders in the Palestinian territories must be
approved by Abbas, who is based in the occupied West Bank.

But Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, no longer recognizes his legitimacy,
and authorities have announced they are planning to carry out a series of
public executions.

“Capital punishments will be implemented soon in Gaza,” attorney general
Ismail Jaber told journalists Sunday[5/22]. “I ask that they take place
before a large crowd.”

Jaber said the council was the “sole legal party” with authority in the
matter, in reference to Abbas’s authority.

Thirteen men, most convicted of murders connected to robberies, are
currently awaiting execution, according to Hamas officials.

The United Nations condemned the move.

“We are deeply concerned about recent statements made by the authorities in
Gaza, including the attorney general, of their intention to implement a
number of death sentences, and fear that the first executions may be
imminent,” said Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights.

“We are also concerned about reports indicating that these executions will
be implemented without the approval of the Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas, which is required under Palestinian law,” he said in a statement.

The last public executions in Gaza were in 2014 during the most recent war
with Israel when a firing squad from Hamas’s armed wing killed six men.

According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, nine death sentences
were handed down in the Gaza Strip in 2015 and two in the occupied West
Bank, run by the Palestinian Authority.

So far this year, around 10 more have been handed down in Gaza
=========
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA

Search For An Article

....................................................................................................

Contact Us

POB 982 Kfar Sava
Tel 972-9-7604719
Fax 972-3-7255730
email:imra@netvision.net.il IMRA is now also on Twitter
http://twitter.com/IMRA_UPDATES

image004.jpg (8687 bytes)