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A Jewish Tunisian rests inside the Ghriba synagogue, one the oldest Jewish monuments built in Africa more than 2,500 years ago, on the resort island of Djerba, south of Tunis, Tunisia, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015. (AP Photo/Mosa ab Elshamy)
TUNIS, Tunisia (AFP) –Tunisia is struggling to protect North Africa’s Jewish heritage, threatened by vandalism, looting and the smuggling of valuable artifacts bearing witness to the long history of the region’s Jews.
While many of Tunisia’s own synagogues and Jewish graveyards lie neglected, the country has also become a conduit for antiques pillaged in lawless neighboring Libya.
“A huge number of antiques have been looted in Libya, and people are trying to smuggle them to Europe,” said Habib Kazdaghli, a historian at Tunisia’s Manouba University.