Jewish Migration from Yemen to the Ottoman Sanjak of Jerusalem, Palestine, and Israel

Chapter Summary

This chapter divides Yemeni Jewish emigration from 1881 to 1950 into three periods. During the first, from 1881 to 1910, migration was an organic response to economic and political volatility in Yemen. During the second period, from 1911 until World War-Two, the Zionist movement began to encourage, and then played a greater part in organizing this movement. The most important factors were clearly improvements in the technology of travel, exemplified by the opening of the Suez Canal, increased contact with foreign Jewish communities, and economic hardship in Yemen. Three groups of emigrants left Yemen in 1881. The chapter traces Yemeni Jewish migration from Yemen to the Ottoman Sanjak of Jerusalem, Palestine, and Israel successively. This movement began in the late nineteenth century, and was prompted by changes to the Yemeni arena resulting primarily from the opening of the Suez Canal and the Ottoman reconquest of central Yemen in 1872.

Keywords: Israel; Jerusalem; Jewish migration; late nineteenth century; Ottoman Sanjak; Palestine; Suez Canal; Yemeni Jewish