JERUSALEM — Exiled Jews are filing a multimillion-dollar compensation claim for property seized in Libya after Moammar Gadhafi signaled that he would consider making payments in his latest effort to end historic enmities.
The case is being assembled by the Israel-based Organization for Libyan Jews and the country’s Justice Ministry. Libyan Jewish leaders say that the confiscated homes, businesses, synagogues, cemeteries and community buildings are worth well in excess of $180 million.
Jews also owned large tracts of land, which are estimated to be worth tens of millions of dollars.
Col. Gadhafi said that he was ready to compensate Libyan Jews for confiscated property while addressing his Popular Committee for Public Security and Justice last week, according to Al Bawaba, a leading pan-Arab news Web site, and other Arab press outlets.
On Friday, families of 170 people killed in the 1989 bombing of a French UTA airliner — an incident blamed on six Libyans — signed a $170 million compensation deal with Tripoli in the country’s latest attempt to mend relations with the West.
“We want to organize a private delegation, without any politicians, to visit Gadhafi so we can push forward this process of compensation,” said Yoram Abib, the chairman of the Union of Libyan Jews.
Raffaello Fellah, a Libyan Jew who lost everything he owned when he left Libya in 1948, has met Col. Gadhafi on a number of occasions since 1993.
“I believe Gadhafi is sincere about this and we should not underestimate his courage to take bold decisions,” said Mr. Fellah, the co-chairman of the World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries.
Jews in Libya formed one of the world’s oldest Jewish communities, stretching back more than 2,500 years. By 1941, Jews accounted for a quarter of Tripoli’s population, maintaining 44 synagogues before the German invasion.
Between 1949 and 1951, however, more than 30,000 Jews left, mostly for Israel. By the time Col. Gadhafi launched the coup that brought him to power in 1969, just 500 Jews remained in Libya.
He subsequently confiscated all Jewish property and canceled all debts owed to Jews. By 1974, there were no more than 20 Jews left, and the last survivor was reported to have died in 2002.
Now Jewish leaders hope that their chance of compensation will not be undermined by the row that broke out within the Israeli government after news emerged of a secret meeting between Israeli Foreign Ministry officials and Col. Gadhafi’s representatives.
The offices of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom are at loggerheads, with the latter accusing “hard-liners” from Mr. Sharon’s office of attempting to sabotage the initiative by leaking details. That prompted Libyan officials to deny that any meeting took place.
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