Jews attend ancient synagogue despite risk of attack

Описание: (26 May 2016) STORY
Security has been heightened on the Tunisian island of Djerba, with Jewish pilgrims arriving for celebrations around the Lag Ba-Omer spring festival.
Many pilgrims have arrived, and more are expected, despite Israeli authorities issuing a 'severe' travel advisory for Tunisia earlier in May.
Traditional rituals are underway inside the El Ghriba Synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba.
It's believed to be Africa's oldest synagogue and the area is home to an ancient community - described as the last Arab Jews.
Rene Trabelsi, from Paris-based Royal First Travel, has been organising pilgrimages to this sacred place.
"This pilgrimage cannot be in a location other than Djerba. Because Djerba is really the perfect place. It is the land of peace, the land of tolerance."
There's been a Jewish community on Djerba since 500 BC and the annual Ghriba pilgrimage is the last known Jewish pilgrimage in a Muslim country.
The traditions that surround the pilgrimage are hundreds - if not thousands - of years old.
If a woman wants to get married or have a child, she is supposed to write her name on an egg, which is put in a cave.
Trabelsi says Jews from around the world are attending, despite Israel's counter-terrorism bureau urging Jews not to visit the country, citing a high likelihood of attacks.
"The Israeli government talks to the Israeli nationals. Jews, us, we are Tunisians. We depend on our Tunisian government and our country - which is Tunisia. If the Tunisian government and the ministry of interior authorizes and encourages us to do the Ghriba (pilgrimage), we will in this sense... They (Israeli authorities) did it (issued warnings) for the Jewish feasts of Easter in Morocco in April, they also did it for Turkey, they have done it for some countries such as the Maldives and Thailand. It is a interior rule to them, it applies only to Israeli nationals. Otherwise Jews around the world are free to come."
The warning has not deterred Rabbi Raphael Quinn who has travelled from Israel.
"I heard what they (the Israeli government) said. But if we pursue these words, we will become blocked and we will accomplish nothing. We relied on God and everything will work. If we pay attention to these recommendations, we will accomplish nothing," he says.
In 2002, al-Qaida militants set off a truck bomb near the synagogue, killing 21 people, mainly German tourists.
The pilgrimage to the island was cancelled in 2011 after the revolution and in subsequent years there were only hundreds attending, down from a peak of 7,000 in 2000.
But Trabelsi says there are signs of recovery.
"We noted, according to data provided by officials of the borders, that the number of pilgrims has exceeded last year's number since this morning and it is expected that more people will arrive tonight and tomorrow."
The Jewish population on the island is around 1,500, down from 100,000 in the 1960s.
Most left following the 1967 war between Israel and Arab countries, and the economic policies adopted by the government in the late 1960s also drove away many Jewish business owners.
Although three quarters live in the Jewish quarter of Houmt Souk - the main city on the island - they are still a noticeable minority in a population of 65,000.
But Trabelsi feels reassured that security officials are doing everything they can to ensure the safety of local and foreign pilgrims to the synagogue.
"For me, the officers are providing security. There are additional teams. They are well organized, between national police, the mobile guard, tourist police, military, the special agents and protection squad officers. They all cooperate together. Pilgrims were escorted as heads of states," he says.
The site of the El Ghriba synagogue is rich with legend.



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