Reviewing Pre-1950 Iraqi History: Conclusion
bob feldman | 19.07.2005 21:34 | Anti-militarism | Repression
With the help of an ex-candidate member of the Communist Party of Iraq Central Committee--who turned informer on October 9, 1948--the Iraqi monarchy's security services were able to initiate a new wave of arrests of Communist Party of Iraq activists on November 11, 1948. The new wave of arrests set the stage for the final elimination in 1949 of the jailed Communist Party of Iraq leader and organizer Fahd from Iraqi political life, along with two other imprisoned members of the party's Politburo, Zaki Basim and Muhammad Hussain Ash-Shabibi.
On February 10, 1949, Fahd, Zaki Basim and Muhammad Hussain Ash-Shabibi were now convicted by the UK's puppet monarchical regime of having "led" the Communist Party of Iraq from their prison cells; and the three were given death sentences. The 1978 book The Old Classes and the Revolutionary Movements in Iraq described the final moments of the three executed Communist Party of Iraq leaders:
"The sentences were carried out at daybreak on 14 and 15 February [1949]. The three leaders were strung up in different squares of Baghdad city, Ash-Shababi at the gate of al-Mu'adhdham, Basim at the east gate, and Fahd in al-Karlch in the open space that is now called the Square of the New Museum. Their bodies were left hanging for several hours so that the common people going to their work would receive the warning…
"Moments before the close of his life, as he was being led up to the gallows, Fahd is said to have exclaimed in a defiant tone: `A people that offers sacrifices will not die!'…"
Despite the political repression and martial law in 1940s Iraq, as late as May 1950 less than 14,000 of Iraq's 130,000 to 150,000 people of Jewish background had left Iraq to live within the Zionist movement's undemocratic new state in Palestine. To "encourage immigration," however, the Israeli government apparently arranged for anti-Semitic attacks to take place in Baghdad. According to the 1977 book Our Roots Are Still Alive by the Palestinian Book Project:
"A series of bombings aimed at Jewish stores, synagogues and cafes stampeded a hundred thousand Iraqi Jews in a panicked flight to Israel. Many years later, an Israeli magazine, Ha'olam Hazeh [5/29/66] published the confession of an Israeli agent, Yehuda Tager. Israelis had been responsible for the bombings in Baghdad to `encourage immigration.'"
The "encouraged" legal immigration of Iraqis of Jewish background from Iraq to Israel/Palestine began in May 1950; and when it ended in August 1951, the number of Iraqis of Jewish background had decreased by an additional 110,000. According to the 1978 book The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq, "the Shiite merchants succeeded to first place in the trade of Baghdad after the exodus of the Jews…"
(End of article)
On February 10, 1949, Fahd, Zaki Basim and Muhammad Hussain Ash-Shabibi were now convicted by the UK's puppet monarchical regime of having "led" the Communist Party of Iraq from their prison cells; and the three were given death sentences. The 1978 book The Old Classes and the Revolutionary Movements in Iraq described the final moments of the three executed Communist Party of Iraq leaders:
"The sentences were carried out at daybreak on 14 and 15 February [1949]. The three leaders were strung up in different squares of Baghdad city, Ash-Shababi at the gate of al-Mu'adhdham, Basim at the east gate, and Fahd in al-Karlch in the open space that is now called the Square of the New Museum. Their bodies were left hanging for several hours so that the common people going to their work would receive the warning…
"Moments before the close of his life, as he was being led up to the gallows, Fahd is said to have exclaimed in a defiant tone: `A people that offers sacrifices will not die!'…"
Despite the political repression and martial law in 1940s Iraq, as late as May 1950 less than 14,000 of Iraq's 130,000 to 150,000 people of Jewish background had left Iraq to live within the Zionist movement's undemocratic new state in Palestine. To "encourage immigration," however, the Israeli government apparently arranged for anti-Semitic attacks to take place in Baghdad. According to the 1977 book Our Roots Are Still Alive by the Palestinian Book Project:
"A series of bombings aimed at Jewish stores, synagogues and cafes stampeded a hundred thousand Iraqi Jews in a panicked flight to Israel. Many years later, an Israeli magazine, Ha'olam Hazeh [5/29/66] published the confession of an Israeli agent, Yehuda Tager. Israelis had been responsible for the bombings in Baghdad to `encourage immigration.'"
The "encouraged" legal immigration of Iraqis of Jewish background from Iraq to Israel/Palestine began in May 1950; and when it ended in August 1951, the number of Iraqis of Jewish background had decreased by an additional 110,000. According to the 1978 book The Old Social Classes and the Revolutionary Movements of Iraq, "the Shiite merchants succeeded to first place in the trade of Baghdad after the exodus of the Jews…"
(End of article)
bob feldman