Spain to Ease Path to Citizenship for Descendants of Jews Expelled in 1492

Spain's government Friday approved a draft law easing the path to citizenship for the descendants of Jews expelled in 1492.

Spain already grants citizenship to proven Sephardic Jews, the descendants of the Jewish people who were expelled in 1492 in a period of Roman Catholic zeal under the reign of Isabella and Ferdinand.

But the new legislation, yet to be approved by parliament, would allow all proven Sephardic Jews to gain Spanish citizenship without being obliged to give up their original nationality. 

Until now, Spain has only allowed dual nationality for Sephardic Jews from a handful of countries, mostly in Latin America.

"The law will allow dual nationality," Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria told a news conference after a weekly cabinet meeting.

Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz Gallardon, who presented an earlier draft of the law in February, has said Spain wants to repair a "historical mistake" with the legislation.

Though estimates vary, historians believe at least 200,000 Jews lived in Spain before the expulsion.

Many who refused to convert to Christianity or leave were burned at the stake.

Up to 3.5 million people around the world are thought to have Sephardic -- Hebrew for "Spanish" -- Jewish ancestry.

The Federation of Jewish Communities in Spain said it welcomed the new legislation with "enormous satisfaction."

"With this gesture, Spain is rendering justice and correcting an error that led to the expulsion of the Jews after the signing of the Edict of Expulsion sanctioned by the Catholic Monarchs on March 31, 1492," it said in a statement, urging members of parliament to pass the law.