- The Jews of Baghdad trace their presence in Iraq to the
court of Nebuchadnezzar and ancient Babylon.
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- But a history that spans 2600 years is unlikely to last
another 20.
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- The community that once boasted numerous synagogues and
played a major role in the skilled trades have lost all hope.
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- There are fewer than 20 Jews living in Baghdad, almost
all to be found in the al-Bitawin district. Down from over 125,000 less
than 60 years ago.
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- End Of An Era
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- Nidhal Salhi, the community's youngest member, is in
her late 40s.
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- She could never marry as there were no eligible men under
the age of 70. So did she ever think of leaving?
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- "I was born here, I was brought up here, all my
friends are here - why on earth should I want to leave? Sometimes I cry
that I have no children and that I'm the last of my people - but I love
my home and Baghdad.
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- "I don't think the British would give me a visa
in any case, would they?" she asked, laughing.
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- Total Tolerance
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- Two other women come and sit down next to her, one a
Muslim, the other a Christian.
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- "All these houses used to belong to Jews, it was
one of the more refined areas of Baghdad. But they have nearly all left
over the last 60 years - London, America and Israel," said Subhiyya,
Nidhal's neighbour and friend.
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- The three women began talking about names of the great
Jewish families that had left decades ago - a perfect picture of religious
and ethnic diversity.
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- Strangely enough, the Jews of Baghdad benefited a great
deal from former President Saddam Hussein.
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- He paid for the restoration of the Meir Tweg synagogue,
the only standing place of worship in the whole of the country. It has
not been used since the invasion and the collapse of public security.
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- Nidhal also told me that it was Saddam Hussein's Jewish
neighbours in Tikrit who had persuaded the former president's mother not
to have an abortion.
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- Women Want Saddam
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- Nevertheless, it was still a surprise when Baghdad's
youngest Jew blurted out: "I wish Saddam could return."
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- Up until now, I must have spoken to dozens of taxi drivers
and café owners, policemen and imams - they all say the same: We
are glad to see the back of Saddam Hussein and hope for his capture and
death.
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- But I had only been speaking to men.
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- Here was the first person I had met who yearned for the
clock to be turned back and former President Hussein to return - not a
Baathist sympathiser, not a former member of the secret police - but a
middle-aged Jewish woman.
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- The other two women said they also wished for the return
of the former president and swore all their friends felt the same.
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- "In Saddam's day, there was the rule of law, there
was safety. Now I dare not let my daughter out of the house. She won't
be able to complete her studies. This is what the Americans have brought",
said Subhiyya.
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- Unwanted Change
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- I suggested that the security situation would improve,
that there would be a new democratic government eventually.
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- "What good is that to us. Look at our houses, look
at the way we live has democracy put food on our tables, safety on our
streets, electricity in our homes. Saddam did all these things," Nidhal
replied.
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- Just as the call to the Maghrib (evening) prayer began
to sound, a wizened old man bent double with age joined what had now become
a group of six women.
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- Despite the obvious pain in a man who may well have been
Baghdad's oldest Jew, Yaqub told the gathering that no Jew would ever have
left Iraq if it hadn't been for the British.
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- Nidhal and the others all laughed, much to his irritation.
"Yaqub always blames the British for the end of our community."
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- Another relatively famous Iraqi Jew, Naeim Giladi, holds
a similar opinion. He also maintains Zionists scared Jews into leaving
Iraq as well. But I didn't want the conversation to end with history.
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- Small Expectations
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- So I asked Yaqub if he thought the Americans would leave
soon, as they have always promised.
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- "I don't know. The British used to say the same.
All we can do is hope."
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- But unlike the men, Baghdad's women seem to have no fear
in saying exactly what they think.
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- Nidhal and the others - a group that had now grown to
eight women and two babies - were all agreed and adamant. "The Americans
will never leave."
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