Some celebrated the centuries-old Lag BaOmer festival by sipping glasses of boukha, a liqueur made from figs. Organisers expect the two-day festival to attract up to 3,000 visitors, 1,000 more than last year when Tunisia was still reeling after a series of jihadist attacks. "We trust the Tunisian authorities to guarantee security," the head of the synagogue, Perez Trabelsi, told AFP. The number of pilgrims visiting the Ghriba synagogue has fallen sharply since a suicide bombing claimed by Al-Qaeda struck Ghriba just before the 2002 pilgrimage, killing 21 people. Some 1,500 Jews live in Tunisia, down sharply from an estimated 100,000 before the country won independence from France in 1956.

Source: The North Africa Journal May 12, 2017 14:33 UTC