More than half sites in Syria also in terrible condition or worse; neglect and redevelopment blamed, after repression and emigration decimated Jewish life in the 2 countries

Some 20 Jews gather in Al-Qosh to light menorah in celebration of Jewish festival, decades after most of community left for Israel

Palestinian leader gets permission from Israeli family to reprint and distribute Yitzhak Bar Moshe's 'Exodus from Iraq,' which official says made the PA president cry

Ceen Gabbai survived 2003 invasion, received asylum in US; in home country, family had to move 5 times due to anti-Semitism, but her Muslim friends secretly recorded 'Hatikvah'

Baghdad's US envoy listed good reasons for a detente with Jerusalem; though he wasn't punished for his remarks, normalization still seems far off