Most Iraqi Jews In Israel Precluded From Recovering Citizenship By Draft Iraqi Constitution

One of the issues that has been largely under-reported in connection with the draft Iraqi constitution is its provisions that effectively deny most Iraqi Jews who emigrated to Israel the right to reclaim their Iraqi citizenship. The issue is mentioned in an article in today's Conservative Voice. A June 30 draft of the constitution (see post on Jihad Watch) specifically precluded anyone holding Israeli citizenship from obtaining Iraqi citizenship or holding dual citizenship with Iraq. In the July 20 draft of the Constitution, those specific references to Israel have been removed. However the new draft still effectively limits the ability of most Iraqi Jews in Israel to automatically regain citizenship because of the date they left Iraq. Most of them left and went to Israel in the 1950's. Chapter Two, Sec. 4 of the new draft Constititon provides: "An Iraqi who was stripped of his citizenship after February 8, 1968 for any reason is considered Iraqi and is entitled to regain [his citizenship]." A full text of both drafts is available from the Carnegie Endowment. The translator points out that the Feb. 8 date may be a drafting error. Presumably the intent was to focus on the date that Saddam's Baathist Party came to power, which was July 1968.