ERRIADH, TUNISIA // In 586BC the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar laid waste to Jerusalem, inadvertently sowing seeds for a Jewish haven across the sea that has outlived his realm by 25 centuries and counting.
Legend tells that refugees fled to the Tunisian island of Djerba, carrying a block from the ruined Temple of Solomon. Today it lies beneath the El Ghriba synagogue, the cornerstone of a thriving Jewish community.
And after decades of Jewish exodus from Arab countries, that community is growing.
For western holidaymakers, Djerba is a strip of lavish resorts along a sandy Mediterranean coast.
For Tunisians, it also showcases a modern secular society in which Jews and Muslims live together peaceably.
Back from the sea is a flat cultivated landscape of palms, olives and prickly pear. Flocks of sheep charge along the roads with young boys running after them.
In the middle of Djerba stands El Ghriba, built in the early 20th century on a site long considered sacred.
Near the pulpit, a small door opens on a bolthole where the Jerusalem stone is kept.
"It's always been there, so we haven't touched it," said Koudir Hania, the synagogue's caretaker.
"Why mess with tradition?"
Those traditions are the result of more than two millennia of Jewish presence on Djerba that has withstood successive upheavals.
Trouble in ancient Palestine repeatedly drove Jews into exile. Many made their way to Tunisia, where they quietly flourished through Roman, Vandal and Byzantine rule.
Arab armies barrelled into North Africa in the seventh century, bringing Islam and imposing the second-class status of dhimmi on Jews.
In the 12th century, the Almohad dynasty went further, ordering Jews to become Muslims or quit the country.
But by now, Tunisia was home. Jews were prominent in commerce and metalworking, trades many families on Djerba still practise today.
The community was periodically bolstered by Jews fleeing waves of persecution in Europe.
Jews also suffered in Tunisia. They were taxed heavily, shut in ghettos by night and forced to wear distinctive clothing.
French colonialism that began in the 19th century abolished the dhimmi status, but it was replaced during the Second World War by the repressive decrees of occupying Nazi forces.
The appeal of Zionism to Tunisia's Jews increased.
Many emigrated to Israel after its creation in 1948. Others went to France after Tunisian independence in 1956 saw their businesses nationalised out from under them. Tension over the Six Day War in 1967 spurred more to leave. Today a community that numbered about 100,000 before 1948 has dwindled to some 1,500, a scenario mirrored in other Arab countries.
But now that trend is reversing on Djerba, said Yousef Wazan, head of the Jewish community there. Family businesses, government favour and friendly Muslim neighbours are persuading Jews not to emigrate, raising their numbers to more than 1,000 from about 700 in the past two decades.
On the street where Mr Wazan grew up, two new houses are being built for a pair of brothers who are getting married this summer. White villas are going up on vacant land nearby to accommodate growing Jewish families. In the past, Jewish neighbourhoods signalled separation. No longer, Mr Wazan said.
"I'm an Arab," Aziza Hania, 18, Mr Hania's daughter, said. "It's my culture, I speak Arabic, I was born in an Arab country."
Ms Hania is planning to study international business in France, but vows to return to Tunisia. "What we have here, you can't find in another country."
That is trust, said Neji Omrani, a teacher at the Essouani primary school, where most Jewish children study.
A special timetable allows them to attend Jewish religious classes at the same time. Religious differences, and strife, are topics of class discussion. "Encouraging tolerance and respect for the other are part of the official curriculum," Mr Omrani said.
"In class we talk about what happens in the world, but we don't allow it to interfere with our lives."
But sometimes it interferes anyway.
One April morning in 2002 an explosion rang over the fields. Mr Hania rushed to El Ghriba synagogue to find bodies strewn beside the door and blood flowing between the cobblestones.
An enormous car bomb had been detonated by Islamist terrorists outside the synagogue, killing 21 and injuring more than 30.
Al Qa'eda claimed responsibility for the attack, which targeted a yearly pilgrimage.
"I felt angry when I saw what had happened," Mr Hania said. "It was an assault on our community and our temple."
But the pilgrims keep coming. Today they pass through an airport-style security gate, and police guard the Jewish quarter nearby where Mr Hania lives with his family in a sepia-coloured house.
Everyone here knows the legend of the Jerusalem stone.
An older story tells that Djerba is where Odysseus lost some of his men, who found the island so pleasant that they stayed to eat a mythical fruit called lotus.
"Everything here is fruit," Mr Hania's wife, Saida, said.
"Everything here is good and sweet."
jthorne@thenational.ae
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SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
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Bangladesh: Mushfiqur Rahim (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Liton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, Mominul Haque, Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Mehedi Hasan, Shafiul Islam, Taijul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed.
Australia: Steve Smith (captain), David Warner, Ashton Agar, Hilton Cartwright, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Matthew Wade, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Renshaw, Mitchell Swepson and Jackson Bird.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Fire and Fury
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MATCH INFO
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Venue: Anfield
Kick-off: Thursday, March 12, midnight
Live: On beIN Sports HD
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If you go
The flights
Emirates (www.emirates.com) and Etihad (www.etihad.com) both fly direct to Bengaluru, with return fares from Dh 1240. From Bengaluru airport, Coorg is a five-hour drive by car.
The hotels
The Tamara (www.thetamara.com) is located inside a working coffee plantation and offers individual villas with sprawling views of the hills (tariff from Dh1,300, including taxes and breakfast).
When to go
Coorg is an all-year destination, with the peak season for travel extending from the cooler months between October and March.
