Nearly a century after Arab regimes forced out hundreds of thousands of Jews, Congress is moving to recognize the tragedy with a bipartisan resolution that would mark Nov. 30 as Jewish Refugee Day.

Jewish communities lived across North Africa, the Middle East, and Iran for thousands of years, many predating Islam and forming some of the oldest centers of Jewish life. In the mid-20th century, as Arab nationalism intensified and violence spread after the 1947 UN partition vote establishing Israel, Jews throughout the region faced state-backed persecution, denaturalization, property confiscation, and mass expulsions.