Tunisian Jews, despite fairly liberal treatment by the current regime, feel vulnerable to the effects of Arab nationalism and the potential threat posed by militant Islamists. In recent years, however, the Islamist infrastructure within Tunisia has been limited by the harsh crackdown of the Tunisian authorities. Concern about the escalation of political violence in neighbouring Algeria has resulted in the government maintaining restrictions on the Islamist movement. Economic growth and political stability in recent years has also contributed to the security of Jews in Tunisia.
Demographic data
Total population: 9.5 million
Jewish population: 1,700, mainly in Tunis and the island of Jerba
Ethnic groups: Arab 98 per cent (3 per cent are Amazigh, or Berbers), European 1
per cent, Jewish and other 1 per cent
Religions: Muslim 98 per cent, Christian 1 per cent, Jewish and other 1 per cent
Languages: Arabic (official), French
Political data
Political system:
democratic republic
Capital: Tunis
Head of state: President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali: Ben Ali replaced President
Habib Bourguiba in a bloodless coup in 1987 and, as sole candidate, was elected
president for two successive five-year terms in 1989 and 1994. On 24 October
1999, Ben Ali was re-elected in Tunisia's first contested presidential election.
Government: multi-party government dominated by President Ben Ali and his party, the Rassemblement constitutionel démocratique (Constitutional Democratic Rally). : In multi-party elections for the 182-seat parliament (majlis al-nuwwab), 20 per cent of the seats were reserved for opposition parties and independent candidates. Also noteworthy was the number of women elected, bringing the percentage of women representatives up from 7 per cent in 1994 to 11.5 per cent in 1999.
Opposition parties: The government imposes a ban
on all parties organized by race, religion or region, and only six opposition
parties are legal, all of which won a number of the seats reserved for
opposition parties in the 1999 elections. The largest is the Mouvement des démocrates
socialistes (MDS, Democratic Socialist Movement. Since 1997, a number of
political prisoners, including the leader and other members of the MDS, have
been released from prison.
GDP 1998: US$20 billion (World Bank)
GDP per capita 1999: c. US$2,600 (US Department of State Human Rights Report 1999)
GDP growth 1999: 4.5 per cent (US Department of State Human Rights Report 1999)
Inflation 1998 (est.): 3.3 per cent (CIA World Factbook 1999)
Unemployment 1998 (est.): 16 per cent (CIA World Factbook 1999)
In the early years of Islam, at least in certain periods, Jews were tolerated and even respected. By the nineteenth century most Jews lived in squalor in the sprawling ghettos of Tunisian cities. Conditions for the Jews of southern Tunisia and those on the island of Jerba were considerably better.
Tunisia was occupied by France in 1830 and a French protectorate was established in 1881. By and large the Jews benefitted from the French presence. The so-called 'fundamental pact' of 1857 gave equality under the law to non-Muslims, and other liberal measures were introduced even before the protectorate. During the Second World War the brief German occupation of Tunisia led to the establishment of forced-labour camps for thousands of Jews.
Following independence in 1956 the situation of Tunisian Jewry was tolerable, but anti-Jewish rioting broke out during the Six Day War in 1967, resulting in the destruction of several Jewish shops and damage to the Great Synagogue in Tunis. Despite the authorities' concern to allay the fears of the Jewish community, occasional attacks on Jews and Jewish property have recurred, including the destruction of two synagogues, in 1979 on Jerba and in 1983 in Zarzis, near the Libyan border.
The small Christian minority in Tunisia consists mainly of foreigners who are permitted to operate a small number of schools and churches. Members of the Baha'i faith, regarded by the government as a heretical sect of Islam, are only permitted to worship in private.
Islamist groupings
Islamist parties are restricted by a ban on all parties organized by race, religion or region. Continuing concern about the escalation of political violence in neighbouring Algeria has led the government to maintain restrictions on the Islamist movement.
Since 1982 the presence of the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in Tunis (tolerated by the Tunisian government not least for economic reasons) has deterred Jewish visitors to Tunisia.
President Ben Ali has recently encouraged tourism among Tunisian-born Jews living elsewhere, including many rabbis who had emigrated to France or Israel, and has sought to promote business links through these visits. Tunisian-born Jews have, for example, been invited to make the pilgrimage to the island of Jerba. Indeed the Tunisian authorities appear keen to attract Jewish visitors. In December 1997, for example, a full-page article in the semi-official English-language weekly Tunisian News described the visit to Tunisia of a mother and son, currently living in Israel, and referred to 'the traditional harmony between Muslims and Jews in Tunisia'. In addition, in recent years religious sites, such as the Ghriba of Le Kef and the grave of Rabbi Itzhak Lumbroso in Tunis, have been renovated.
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