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Libya
Other Peoples
Jewish colonies were firmly established in both Cyrenaica and
Tripoli before the Christian era. The Jews lived amicably with
the Muslims until increasing pressure for a Jewish homeland after
World War II caused violent anti-Jewish reactions throughout the
Arab world. During the late 1940s, most of the Jewish population
departed, many to take up residence in the new state of Israel.
Anti-Jewish violence erupted in Tripoli in 1967, and in 1970 the
revolutionary government confiscated most remaining Jewish property
, subject to compensation in government bonds. In the 1970s fewer
than 100 members remained of a Jewish community that had numbered
35,000 in 1948.
A residual Italian community of nearly 30,000 continued to live
in Libya during the 1960s, a majority in Tripoli and most of the
remainder on farms in the surrounding area. A 1960 law had discouraged
foreign residents by prohibiting their acquisition of additional
land, and immediately after the 1969 revolution a number of new
restrictions were imposed upon them. In 1970 the revolutionary
government issued a declaration that it would "restore to the
Libyan people" the properties taken by Italians during the colonial
period. Assurances of personal safety were given to foreigners,
but nearly all of the Italians departed immediately, although
some returned later.
The European community in Libya in 1986 amounted to 40,000 persons,
a decline of more than half from the levels of 1984-85. Included
in this figure were 100 to 300 Americans, most employed in the
oil industry.
Data as of 1987
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