The small Jewish community of Yemen has diminished even further in recent years, largely as a result of voluntary emigration. The Middle East peace process and the urgent need to boost the Yemeni economy have resulted in a significant decline in the government's hostility towards Israel and in official expressions of antisemitism. The presence of militant Islamist opposition forces - which reportedly include the Palestinian group Hamas - may undermine the security of the few Jews who remain in Yemen.
Demographic data
General population: 14.7 million
Jewish population: 350 (mainly in the Saada and Raydah regions)
Political data
The Republic of Yemen was founded in 1990 by the unification of the Yemen Arab Republic (formerly North Yemen) and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (formerly South Yemen). Multi-party elections - the first in the Arabian peninsula - were held in April 1993 and appeared to consolidate the unification. Following the outbreak of civil war, Yemen was reunified by a ruling coalition which comprised: al-Mu'tammar al-Sha'abi al-'am (General People's Congress, GPC), that had ruled in the North; al-Tajammu al-Yamani li al-Islah (Yemeni Alliance for Reform), a Saudi-backed coalition that includes the Muslim Brotherhood; and Hizb al-Ishtiraki al-Yamani (Yemen Socialist Party, YSP). The YSP subsequently left the coalition and boycotted parliamentary elections in April 1997 which returned the GPC-led coalition to power. Lieutenant-General Ali Abdullah Saleh, leader of the GPC and former president of North Yemen, who had led Yemen against the secessionist forces in the civil war, was re-appointed in 1994 to a five-year term as president of united Yemen.
Economic data
GDP: c. US$250
Unemployment: 30 per cent
Inflation: 140 per cent
Yemen continues to suffer the repercussions of its pro-Iraqi stance in the 1991 Gulf War. The expulsion of nearly one million migrant workers from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states caused considerable damage to the already weak economy through the loss of foreign currency remittances and placed a great burden on the welfare structures in Yemen through increased unemployment and homelessness. In recent years, particularly since the 1991 Gulf War, Yemen has sought to strengthen ties with the West and to present a more moderate image in order to acquire urgently needed foreign aid.
Yemeni Jews were traditionally prevented from owning land and therefore sought employment in commerce and trade. They were renowned for their skills as silversmiths and jewellery-makers. During the Ottoman period, it became mandatory for Jewish men to grow sidelocks, and Jews were prohibited from wearing bright colours, building homes above a certain height, carrying weapons or riding animals. In 1905 a new law required Jewish orphans under the age of thirteen to be converted to Islam. In 1929 emigration to Palestine was outlawed, but a steady trickle of Jews continued to leave the country.
Before the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, some 16,000 Jews managed to emigrate to Palestine. Between June 1949 and July 1950, a further 43,000 Yemeni Jews were airlifted to Israel in an operation dubbed 'Operation Magic Carpet'. According to official figures, 2,000 more Yemeni Jews arrived in Israel after 1952. After the 1962 revolution in North Yemen, Jews were forbidden to leave that country, though several thousand Adeni Jews in the South managed to leave with the British as they relinquished control of the Aden Protectorate in the mid-1960s, following violent anti-British and anti-Jewish riots. Suspicions of Israel and Zionism also led to further restrictions, and contacts with foreign visitors, especially Jews, were strictly forbidden. Members of the Jewish community carried distinctive identity papers and lived under a permanent nightly curfew.
In 1986 two Jews were killed in Raydah. Militant Islamists destroyed the foundations of a Jewish school in January 1992 (see Countering antisemitism). In the same year Israeli officials revealed that secret diplomacy was being pursued to enable the last Jews in Yemen to emigrate, and shortly afterwards the Yemeni government lifted restrictions on Jewish emigration though it remained officially opposed to Jews travelling to Israel.
Some antisemitic edicts dating back to the Ottoman period remain in force to the present day. Jews have traditionally been and are still restricted to living in certain sections of cities or villages. They are also restricted to specific types of employment, such as farming and handicrafts.
A delegation of Jewish leaders from the London-based Maimonides Foundation visited Yemen in October 1998 as guests of Prime Minister Dr Abdul Karim al-Iryani. They visited the Jewish community in Raydah and met with senior figures in local and national government.
During the last two years, the Yemeni government has facilitated
the reconstruction of a Jewish school, which was destroyed by Islamists
in 1992, and a mikveh (ritual bath) with the help of foreign funds.
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Institute for Jewish Policy Research
© JPR 1999
