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RUSSIA has returned the historical papers of the Communist Party of Israel (Maki) which were smuggled out of the country more than 40 years ago when the right-wing Likud party came to power.
Local media sources only revealed the move, which happened in May 2015, on Tuesday explaining that the archives were returned from Moscow “almost secretly.”
The files, which include the full documentation of the party from 1919 to 1977, were shipped out from Tel Aviv to Moscow when the Likud won the Israeli general election.
It was feared that the right-wing party would attempt to seize the archive so it was sent to Moscow for safe-keeping.
The files were returned following 10 years’ work from Tamara Gogansky, the former MK from the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality (Hadash) coalition which includes the communist party.
She spoke to officials in Russia who explained they would hand over the documents as long as they were given to an official government body.
According to an official at the national library based in Hebron University, the papers were returned in bags similar to those used by Jews who arrived in Israel in the 1950s.