Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: Morocco

Showing posts with label Morocco. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Thousands of Jews go on pilgrimage to Morocco

From AFP:

Thousands of Jews from Morocco, Israel and other parts of the world have over the past week carried out an annual pilgrimage to the Islamic nation to honour celebrated rabbis.

Morocco may not be the likeliest of Jewish pilgrim destinations, but the north African nation has for centuries had a vibrant Jewish population and some 1,200 of the faith's pious ancestors are buried in cemeteries here. In recent days, about 5,000 pilgrims have gathered to pray for peace at sanctuaries and gravesites.

Perhaps the most famous of these burial grounds is that of Amran Ben Diwan, a venerated rabbi who was interred 250 years ago in the mountains of Ouazzane, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the capital Rabat.

Ben Diwan's tomb, nestled in a Jewish cemetery among acres of olive trees, was placed under police guard and only people who had been authorised by Morocco's Jewish community were allowed access.

The pilgrimage will finish Saturday, following five days of prayers and celebration, with pilgrims hurling candles into a large fire by Ben Diwan's tomb.

Arab media reports that no Israelis attended last week's Lag B'Omer pilgrimage to Tunisia, but this one in Morocco is attracting many Israeli Jews.

BDS Fail: $50M in trade between Israel and Morocco

Morocco's Hespress reports that trade between Israel and Morocco is now more than $50 million annually.

Quoting a Slate Afrique article from last year, it notes that the trade keeps growing despite the noisy Moroccan groups that are against "normalization" with Israel.

There is a lot of trade in agriculture, the Slate article says that much of it goes through European middlemen. But, surprisingly, much of the trade is in spare parts for Morocco's armed forces - parts for F-16s as well as for armored vehicles, which may be the only instance where Israel provides parts for an Arab army.

Other items being sold by Israel to Morocco include telecommunications equipment.

(The illustration to the article, showing a protest against Moroccan normalization with Israel, indicates that the people opposed to such trade are not exactly "anti-Zionist":)

To put this in perspective, this means that every year, a single, medium sized Arab country buys about 100 times the amount of goods from Israel that the British Co-Operative supermarket chain did from the Israeli companies it decided to boycott. The increase in goods sold to Morocco alone this year alone will be far greater than the amount Israel might lose from any conceivable BDS action.

When Israel is making inroads into Arab(!) markets at rates that are orders of magnitude greater than "progressive" Westerners manage to boycott Israeli goods, it seems that BDS is not just a failure, but a spectacular failure.

Documentary (by a Muslim) shows Jews from Morocco to Israel

From the website of the Sephardic Film Festival last month:

TINGHIR-JERUSALEM, ECHOES FROM THE MELLAH: The Rediscovery of a Judeo-Berber Culture

Director: Kamal Hachkar
Kamal Hachkar grew up in France with the idea that all Berbers were Muslims. From his grandparents he learns that some Berbers were Jewish and that in many villages, Muslims and Jews lived together for a long time. His search leads him to Israel where he meets families originally from Tinghir. Elders spoke of their lives in Tinghir, answering many of his questions. On meeting Jews of his generation, with origins in Tinghir, Kamal realizes that he is not alone in his desire to restore this buried part of their identities. He hopes that his generation will be able to acknowledge the bonds broken by history.

Morocco's Hespress interviewed Hachkar. He seems to be a true man of peace, who wants ties between Muslims and Jews to improve. Part of his target audience is Moroccans who are not even aware of the vibrant Jewish culture that existed there not so long ago. The film has been shown in festivals in the US, Montreal and Rabat, Morocco, where Hachkar ways it was well received.

The interviewer asked Hachkar about some Moroccans who are criticizing the film as a means of "normalization" with the Zionist enemy and who called for an investigation of the issue. His answer was simply that they were racists, that Jews are as much a part of Moroccan culture and history as anyone else, and that they are a minority as he has received great feedback from Moroccans who saw the film.He also implied that the Jews in the film love Morocco more than these loudmouths, whom he said probably ignore the real human rights issues in Syria.

He wants to make a sequel where he brings some of the Jews back to Tinghir.

Here is a 5 minute portion of the documentary with English subtitles:

The entire documentary is online, with French subtitles. I understand that there is an English subtitled version that was shown at the film festival.

100th anniversary of a pogrom in Fez, Morocco

Today is the 100th anniversary of a particularly gruesome pogrom in Fez, Morocco, as a protest against the French turned into a violent rampage against the Jews who lived in a ghetto there.

From the Boston Evening Transcript:

From the Grey River Argus:

Here is what the Jewish quarter looked like afterwards:

In the end, some 60 Jews were murdered.

And this was not particularly unusual for Fez. There were pogroms in 1033, and 1276, in 1465 the mellah (ghetto) was almost completely destroyed, and there were pogroms throughout Morocco in 1790 where the Fez Jews were forced out of the city for two years.

This is just a small part of how well Jews were treated in Muslim countries. For the most part better than Europe, but they were always considered to be inferior and apart from the majority population, and when bad things happened the Jews were the first to be attacked.

UPDATE: See also here.

Tens of thousands protest Israeli stepping foot in Morocco

I noted on Friday that many Arabs were upset at the presence of an Israeli at the Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly in Rabat, Morocco this past weekend.

That is an understatement.

From YNet:

Several days prior to the Global March to Jerusalem, thousands of Moroccans took part in a mass rally in Rabat "in support of Jerusalem." Israeli diplomat David Saranga, who was in the city for a conference, was taken out of the building through a side door as demonstrators protested his presence there, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday. Palestinian flags were flown and Israeli flags were burned during the march.

A Moroccan Islamic organization that organized the march claimed that 100,000 participated in the rally. "The people want to free al-Aqsa," the protesters chanted. "A million martyrs are going to Jerusalem."

Arab media reported Sunday that Saranga's participation in a Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EUROMED) meeting at Morocco's parliament stirred uproar among citizens and legislators. The country's ruling party [PJD] boycotted the meeting.

At the end of the session, thousands of Moroccans stormed the building and it was feared Saranga would be attacked, Yedioth Ahronoth reported. He was therefore taken out through a side door and taken to the airport under heavy security.

At the session itself:

Israel is a member of the UFM, so the Knesset was therefore represented in Rabat by one of its members, a presence that sparked the ire of the PJD parliamentarians, headed by Abdelaziz Amari, chairman of the parliamentary group of the PJD in the room representatives:

"Our position is clear and unwavering vis-à-vis any normalization of relations with the Zionist entity ... I will ask the government to clarify the exact circumstances of the arrival on the national territory of that individual Israeli."

Moroccan man jailed for "sacrilege" - flying an Israeli flag

From Al Arabiya:

A Moroccan court on Friday sentenced a man to six months in jail after he raised the Israeli flag over his home to attract the attention of local authorities and protest the disconnection of electricity and water supplies to his home, Moroccan media reported.

Mohammed Jadidi, 42, had drawn the Israeli flag on a white cloth and raised it over his home in the Airport neighborhood of the northern predominantly Amazigh (Berber) town of Nador.

He reportedly did so after the electricity and water were disconnected to his home, which belonged to the Auxiliary Forces and occupied by his family since the death of his father, who was part of the paramilitary forces.

Morocco’s Auxiliary Forces supplement the military, gendarmerie and the police when needed.

Jadidi was arrested last Monday and was charged with “sacrilege” through “undermining the national flag.”

His mother had appeared on a video circulated on Moroccan websites appealing King Mohammad VI to release her son. She said he only raised the Israeli flag to attract the attention of the senior officials to look into the conditions of his family.

The local Rif Association for Human Rights blasted the court’s decision as baseless and said there was nothing in raising a foreign flag that undermines the national flag.

Flying an Israeli flag is "sacrilege"? And it "undermines the national flag" of Morocco?

This is not the first time that the appearance of an Israeli flag in Morocco caused mass angst.

The general psychosis of the Arab world is a most interesting phenomenon.

(h/t Dan)

Islamists win Morocco elections

From Al Arabiya:

The Moroccan government confirmed Saturday that the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (PJD) had won biggest share of seats in parliament.

The party captured 80 seats in the 395-seat assembly, the most of any party, in Friday's polls according to provisional results, Interior Minister Taib Cherkaoui told a news conference.

A party in Morocco's ruling coalition recognized the win PJD’s win in the parliamentary elections.

“I congratulate the PJD for this win and I would like to say as well that Morocco won in these legislative elections,” sports and youth minister Moncef Belkhayat and a leader of the National Rally of Independents party told AFP.

The PJD, supported largely by Morocco’s poor, would be the second moderate Islamist party to lead a North African government since the start of the region’s Arab Spring uprisings, following Tunisia.

But the party, which hopes to push Islamic finance but vows to steer clear of imposing a strict moral code on society, will have to join forces with others to form a government.

The king revived a reform process this year hoping to sap the momentum out of a protest movement and avoid the violence-ridden revolts in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Yemen and Syria.

He has handed over more powers to the government, although he retains the final say on the economy, security and religion.

The king will pick the next prime minister from the party that wins the biggest number of seats. But whichever party or bloc comes first is unlikely to be able to form a government on its own.

PJD has said it aims to obtain a majority by joining forces with three parties in the current governing coalition, including the left-wing Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP) and the nationalist Istiqlal of Prime Minister Abbas al-Fassi.

Well, that takes care of most of North Africa.

Moroccan university hosts Holocaust conference, sort of

From Ha'aretz:

The world's first colloquium in the Arab world for the study of the Holocaust took place this week, in large measure thanks to the groundwork laid by a program that seeks to educate American high school graduates about the history of cooperation between Jews and the other nations. The symposium, hosted by Al-Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco and co-sponsored by the Israel gap-year program Kivunim, included three days of presentations and panels on the Nazi genocide, its repercussions for Morocco, and the historical relationships between Jews and Muslims in the Middle East.

The only Holocaust conference held in the Muslim world prior to this took place in Tehran, Iran in December 2006, and was widely denounced by Jewish leaders as an attempt not to gain a greater understand of those events, but to cast doubt on their ever having taken place. The groundbreaking Ifrane conference received the support of local Jewish community leaders and was attended by mainstream historians of the Holocaust, coexistence facilitators, government representatives - including the American Ambassador and emissaries of the Moroccan king - and ordinary Moroccan Muslims and Jews.

The conference was originally the idea of a group of Muslim students at Al-Akhawayn University in the Atlas Mountains, who formed a "Mimouna Club" -- named for the post-Passover holiday of Jewish-Arab fraternity. The club shared their idea with students from the Kivunim program that they had met who were visiting the country to learn about Moroccan Jewish history. Kivunim Founding Director Peter Geffen, who accompanied the group, realized the historic importance of such an opportunity and agreed to help organize the event, bringing some of those same Kivunim students back to Morocco this week to attend the conference.

During World War Two, when Morocco was occupied by the French, who were in turn occupied by the Vichy regime that collaborated with the Nazis, Moroccan King Mohammed V is said to have protected the Jews living in his domain from suffering the fate that befell the Jews of Europe. On March 18, 2009, his grandson, the ruling monarch Mohammed VI, honored that tradition of inter-religious solidarity when he publicly proclaimed that he and the Moroccan people perceive the Shoah "as a wound to the collective memory, which we know is engraved in one of the most painful chapters in the collective history of mankind."

I don't see anything about the Holocaust conference specifically on the website of the school. All I can find is that over the same three day period the Mimouna Club is celebrating "Jewish Days" where there are lectures, debates, visits to museums and kosher meals in Ifrane and Casablanca. The word "Holocaust" isn't mentioned in their program, but it must be the same one that Ha'aretz is reporting on.

Which means that this is not exactly a public conference on the Holocaust.

What's going on in Morocco?

CNN International reports:

Protests sweeping through the Middle East and North Africa have spread to Morocco, where thousands demonstrated Sunday to call for political reform, according to a human rights organization.

Police stayed away from the marches and demonstrations, most of which were peaceful, Human Rights Watch reported.

A government spokesman told a Russian television station on Sunday that protests in Morocco are not unusual, according to the Moroccan state news agency, Agence Maghreb Arabe Presse.

"Unlike most Arab countries, rallies and protests are common in Morocco," said Khalid Naciri, communication minister and government spokesman.

Naciri said the protesters' demands are "ordinary" and that the rallies take place lawfully and preserved public order in an environment of "stability." He also said the protests are part of the practice of democracy, Agence Maghreb Arabe Presse said. Demonstrators' demands are on the agenda of most political parties, he said.

Sounds like things are normal and under control.

Yet at the same time, Arabic Al Arabiya is reporting that there are 5 dead and dozens injured as people are rampaging through the streets, smashing cars, torching buildings and breaking store windows. The five were burned to death in a bank that was set on fire, mostly in Al Hociemba. 40 security personnel were injured.

The photos seem to support the Al Arabiya version.

UPDATE: CNN now mentions the bodies, without quite understanding what else happened yesterday.

New book on Jews in Maghreb

Silke points to an interesting article:

An important new book in French drawing on original archive material by the Sorbonne professor Paul Fenton and the historian and human rights campaigner David Littman demolishes the myth that Jews and Muslims lived as equals in the Maghreb. Indeed, it was the collective memory of pre-colonial Jewish suffering which caused the mass Jewish exodus from Algeria and Morocco. Veronique Chemla interviews both authors for her blog.

David G. Littman: We have released documents showing that some Muslim authorities were able to demonstrate an understanding favourable to the Jews at different times. Without the protection ("dhimma") of the Sultan, the fate of the Jews would have been even worse.

The publication of these hundreds of emotionally-charged testimonies does not intend to have a political objective. We do not want to stir up old grudges or stymie attempts at interfaith dialogue.

We believe - as Bat Ye'or has stated in her writings - that any dialogue between Jews and Muslims which does not recognize the historical reality of dhimmitude, is fated to be fruitless guff and breaks away from a future based on the acceptance of an equal Other.

As for the allegation that we are pushing an agenda, these 720 pages show the emptiness and futility of polemical and "political" allegations.

Our book does not pretend to be exhaustive, but we challenge those who challenge us to collect as many texts that show that Jews have lived happily and equal to Muslims in North Africa during the period studied.

Magna veritas, and praevalebit / The truth is powerful, and will triumph.

Paul B. Fenton: Some people want us to believe that the Jewish experience in North Africa was a serene idyll disturbed only by the advent of Zionism in the 20th century.

The evidence gathered in our book, from Jewish and non-Jewish sources, is overwhelming: they reveal an uninterrupted catalogue of suffering through the centuries.

We must extinguish once and for all the myth of the "Golden Age". There has never been happy interfaith coexistence and equality under Islam.

Only under the French and Spanish protectorates did Judaism in the Maghreb experience calm and happiness. "The guest only remembers the night before," says the Jewish-Arab proverb. Memories of good times have distorted our historical vision.

However, a collective Jewish memory kicked in the aftermath of decolonization, otherwise one cannot understand why North African Jewry has opted almost entirely to leave its ancestral homeland.

This does not preclude, at the individual level, strong friendships between Jews and Muslims, when they were not troubled by collective hostility.

Since this is a topic I never really looked at, I went to my favorite avenue for research - Google Books - and found a few supporting items.

Letter from Rev. Joseph Wolff, 1839:

I remained the greater part of 1834, and a part of 1835, at Malta, with my wife and child, occupying myself in preparing the journals of 1831 to 1834, for the press; and beside this, in preaching every Sunday evening the Gospel of Christ, in the Church Missionary House, where divine service was celebrated according to the Church of England. I was also much interested in the frequent arrivals of Jews from Morocco, who were on their journey to Jerusalem, where they intended to end their days; they sometimes visited me. Poor people! whenever they entered my house at Malta, they put off their slippers, as they are accustomed, or, rather, compelled to do, when they enter in Morocco the house of a Muhammedan. They informed me, that among the Mnhammedan tribes in Africa, the following came originally from Palestine:

Beraber, who are called Felishtim by the Jews of Morocco; and Yooshe, called Jebusim (Jebusites) by the Jews.

According to the account of the Jews of Morocco there are in the empire of Morocco, and throughout Africa, one million of Jews. In spite of the oppression they are subject to, they have colleges and synagogues.

When the Jews in Morocco are too much oppressed they fly to Tefilaleth, where they are protected by the Bedooeens, and hospitality afforded to them. They informed me that the time of the election of a new Emperor is always a time of trouble to the poor Jews, for every Emperor imposes a new tribute upon them. It is remarkable that several European Christians, who were captured by pirates, sought asylum among the Jews of Morocco, Fez and Mihnas, and embraced Judaism; so that there are several thousands of such Gerim (Strangers) among them. There are also a great many Jews upon Mount Atlas, which mountain is called Szalaw by the Jews of Morocco. The black slaves of Morocco are called by them "The children of Canaan."

The Church of England Magazine, 1844:

The population daily increases, chiefly in consequence of a peculiar and despotic law of the emperor, which does not permit a Jewess to leave the country without the payment of a hundred dollars; six dollars only being paid by n Jew. The reason assigned for the anxiety of the emperor to prevent Jews from emigrating is, that the Jews are the principal artisans, tradesmen, merchants, £c., and the finances of the country are almost solely dependant upon the pecuniary transactions of the ricli Jews, of whom there are not a few....

The Jews of Tangier (2,000 in number) pay the emperor a poll-tax of 1,200 Spanish dollars. This is collected by the chiefs of the Israelites, and is exacted very "fairly, according to the means of each family. The Moorish government employs the Jews in many distinguished posts ; for instance, as commissioners of finance, and commissary-generals ; but all this service performed by them is honorary.

However, the Jews are suffering many humiliating thines. When they pass a mosque, a maraboot, or a dwelling of a saint, and even a Moorish school, in which the koran is usually read, they are obliged to take off their shoes. They are compelled to wear black turbans or caps, and black shoes. The women, however, are allowed to dress in all colours. A Jew cannot ride on a horse, and in a town he cannot ride at all. If a Moor curses, or calls a Jew ill names, the Jewmust not retort ; he may, however, report the case to the cadi, or Moorish judge, and then the Jew generally obtains justice. The emperor never employs a Jew as a soldier. European Jews, however, are treated like Christians ; they are, in fact, subjects of the different consular representatives of Christian powers in this city. I should also mention that the Moors respect the religion of the Jews, their burying places, &c., like those of the Christians. If a Jewish criminal professes Islamism, he is immediately pardoned by government, whatever his crimes may be....

As to the enjoyments of the Jews in this country, you can form no conception. During the month 1 have been here, Jewish society, Doth native and European, has been a succession of feasts. What with weddings and circumcisions, and other minor feasts, there is no end to luxurious living amongst these Mogadore Jews ; and it is surprising to observe how the native Jew is advancing in the luxuries (what some would call the civilization) of European society, a hundred times more rapidly than the Moors.

With all this gaiety and splendour, these people suft'er, nevertheless, many and great humiliations, as I have already mentioned. Even the British Jews, both from London and Gibraltar, find great difficulty in riding a horse or a mule through the streets of Mogadore, the Moors making all native Jews dismount before they enter the gates of the city. It is singular, however, that, because European Jews dress like Christians, the Moors call them Christians, "Ensara." An English Jewess, who had married a Jew of this country, was one day insulted in the street by a Moorish boy. She resented it by striking the boy. The Moors flocked around her, and demanded how she dare to flog a true believer. She replied, she would strike them also if they touched her. The Moors complained to her husband, who defended himself by saying, "My wife, you see, is an Englishwoman !"

Morocco of To-day, 1906:

Mohammedanism is so profoundly impressed on Morocco, with its purely Arab or Berber population, that the Jews, the sole racial element living outside Islamism, are compelled, by force of circumstances, to lead an entirely separate existence.

In Mohammedan law no one who is not a Mohammedan can live in the territory of Islam without paying a capitation tax, called djezlya. It is under this principle of common law that the Jews have lived and still live in the Maghreb. But this Mohammedan principle of the tax imposed on non-Mussulmans is complicated for them by an idea peculiar to the country, arising from the feudal system, which persists to the present day—the idea, namely, of placing the Jewish population under the rule and protection of the territorial lords.

The Sultans, who have almost succeeded in destroying the feudal system in submissive regions, have been led to substitute, in the case of the Jews of the Blad tl-Makhzen, their sovereign protection for the ancient protection of the feudal lords. The result is that the Moroccan Jews are looked upon as placed under the itmma—that is, the protection, the guarantee of the Sultan. They are supposed to have concluded a dtmma contract with the Sultan, in virtue of which, in exchange for certain obligations, the chief of which is the payment of the djrziya, they are guaranteed the enjoyment of their possessions and their liberty.

The obligations imposed on the Moroccan Jews have been added one after the other. Their centralisation in special quarters, termed Mellahs, was a measure adopted in the thirteenth century to safeguard them from the persecutions of the populace. In the sixteenth century, after the Mohammedan revival which brought the Shcreefian dynasties to power, they were naturally the first to be exposed to the reaction of the religious enthusiasm excited by the progress of Portuguese and Spanish settlements. They were then subjected to a whole series of restrictive measures and vexatious regulations; notably, they were compelled to wear black clothes and black shoes, walk on foot in the streets of the city, and take off their babouchts when they passed in front of a mosque.

The Moroccan Jew assumes, then, a double character. He is a tributary, in virtue of Mohammedan law, whilst he can, at the same time, claim protection in accordance with the feudal principles of the Maghreb. He lives in a quarter which is completely separated from the Medina, and clings to the walls of the Kasbah. In this quarter, which the popular contempt designates by the name of Mellah (Place of Salt), the houses are often the property of the Makhzen, or even of the Habout. In the imperial cities the Pasha of the guich, and not the Governor of the city, is responsible for their security. This security is complete so long as the Sultan's authority rests intact, but is at the mercy of every oscillation of the central power, so that the Mellahs are always the first to suffer in Moroccan agitations. Single Jews are often assassinated in the country, and sometimes a few Mellahs are actually sacked.

...In Morocco the position of the Jewish population is uniformly wretched. Among the Berbers, where it is subject to the most rigorous exactions, it is reduced to the small trades and menial occupations imposed on it by the lords on whom it is dependent. In Arab territory it has had more chance of development, and, at all times, certain individuals have succeeded in raising themselves from the misery of the Mellahs, and in reaching wealth, and even power. None the less, the great mass of the Jewish population continues to live in poverty and squalor. The Mellahs are overpopulated and are devastated by constant epidemics. The majority of the Jews gain a painful living. However, the number of well-to-do merchants, the agents of firms on the coast, is increasing every day. In certain towns, such as Marrakech and Mekinez, the European post-offices are situated in the Mcllah. Several large capitalists have already begun to think of entering into business relations with the Mahkzen, and there is no tribal Kald who does not have at the neighbouring village a Jew whom he calls his chkara (money-bag), who performs the various functions of banker, commissioner, and agent.

This debasing environment naturally produces a debased type of character. The marks of servility abound among the Jews, especially in the small towns of the Haouz, where their very existence is at the mercy of the caprice of local Kai'ds. It is most distressing to see passing Jews on the highways make a profound inclination and kiss the hand of one's servants, showering Ya sidisj(my lord) upon them, and the most obsequious formula.

Relative to, say, Czarist russia, the Jews did not have it too bad in the Maghreb. But to say that they had full equality is not close to being true.

Israeli flag in Morocco causes consternation

Last week I mentioned that there were a number of protests over the participation of Israeli singer Yael Naim in the "Concert for Tolerance" in Agadir, Morocco.

Well, the vigilant Arabs have sniffed out other Israelis visiting that city,and they are not happy.

The Hespress Moroccan newspaper mentions that the Seventh International Congress on Cactus Pear and Cochineal was also held in Agadir this week, and it included an Israeli scientist who spoke on Tuesday (Noemi Tel-Zur on the scintillating topic of "Pitahayas: introduction, agrotechniques and breeding.")

Last June, the paper notes, an Israeli delegation participated in a conference on whaling, also in Agadir.

All of these events went off without a hitch, and it is to Morocco's credit that the complaints - while noisy - were contained. But it is harder for them to forgive what happened next.

Earlier this week, also in Agadir, one could see the scene in the picture on the right.

The occasion is the 16th World Junior Judo Championships, being held in Agadir - and Israel is participating.

Municipal officials were stunned at the Israeli flag being displayed publicly. They felt blindsided by the display, not even knowing that Israel was participating. Some prominent officials said that they would not attend the opening ceremony if the flag continued to be shown.

So the judo officials took the flag down a half hour before the ceremony, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

What happened between Peres and Morocco's king?

From JPost on Monday:

President Shimon Peres on Sunday announced that he would not attend the World Economic Forum being held in Morocco at the end of the month because King Muhammad VI had refused to meet with him during his planned visit.

According to reports from Beit Hanassi, King Muhammad let it be known that Peres is an Israeli figure held in high esteem in Morocco but that at time was not ripe for a meeting between the two leaders due to tension caused over the stalemate in peace talks with the Palestinians.

The Arabic media is reporting that Arab states, including Syria, Libya and especially Saudi Arabia, put intense pressure on Morocco's King Muhammad to shun Peres, especially after there were other press reports in the Israeli media that the king had invited Peres to meet.

The current Arab League trend is to avoid having Israeli leaders step foot on Arab soil, including Egypt and Jordan, in order to further isolate Israel politically, according to the article.

Kuwait apologizes to Morocco over TV cartoon

From the Arab Times:

The Kuwaiti Ministry of Foreign Affairs has officially apologized to the people of Morocco for the animated comedy series screened by a Kuwaiti TV channel, reports Al-Seyassah daily.
It has been reported the improper depiction of the Moroccan women has sparked an outrage.
The Ministry apology said Kuwait respects the Kingdom of Morocco and its people. The apology also stressed on the fact that issues such as these cannot affect the distinguished and brotherly relations between the peoples of the two countries.

This came when the Moroccan community in Kuwait expressed its resentment of the TV program which greatly offended the Moroccan people and requested the Ministry of Information to delete the two episodes which were telecast on Aug 17 and Aug 18.

The Moroccans said this incident is unprecedented in the Arab world since this is the first time one Arab country has insulted the people of another.

In the meantime, the Kuwaiti daily newspaper Al-Watan, an affiliate of the channel, has issued a formal apology on its front page under the title ‘All love and respect for Morocco’. According to the paper, the play was not meant to offend the Moroccans.

I am trying to figure out what the exact offense was, and as far as I could tell, in the offensive skit, a Moroccan mother greeted two guests and gave them coffee, but was surreptitiously practicing magic on them to make them want to marry her two daughters. It might have implied that the guests specifically came to Morocco to meet and sleep with women.

Between the witchcraft and implied prostitution, Moroccans were a bit miffed.

Details on Morocco terror cell

Asharq al-Awsat gives more details on the terror cell that Morocco discovered and dismantled this week.

The leader of the cell was a Palestinian Arab named Yahya al-Hindi. He completed his jihadist training, including weapons and explosives training, in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

He tried to enter Morocco five times. The first four times he was denied entry, but then he married a Moroccan woman to make it in successfully in May, 2009.

He managed to build a terror cell of eleven members from different areas of the country.

Authorities in Rabat believe that he thought that Morocco was a great place to recruit members of his cell because of its many anti-Israel rallies held there (euphemistically referred to as "Palestinian solidarity demonstrations.")

His Palestinian origins are not expected to hurt the relationship between Morocco and the PA.

Morocco "dismantles terrorist network"

From Maktoob:

RABAT - Moroccan security services dismantled Monday a suspected Islamic extremist network headed by a Palestinian national, the interior ministry said.

The network of 11 members led by a Palestinian "planned to commit terrorist acts within the national territory," the ministry said in a statement, adding that the activists involved were Takfirists.

The Takfirist ideology is upheld by a violent Islamist movement forming a tiny minority in Morocco, who argue that society and its rulers have strayed from the true path. Takfirism first appeared in Egypt in the 1970s.

More than 2,000 Islamists have been arrested and sentenced in Morocco since the Casablanca bombings of May 16, 2003. Five separate suicide bomb attacks, the most deadly inside a restaurant, claimed 45 lives, including those of 12 bombers, and wounded many people in the northern port city.

Islamists unsuccessful in banning Elton John from Morocco

From AFP:

Morocco's main Islamist opposition party has called for gay singer Elton John to be banned from performing at a festival in Rabat later this month, a party leader said Friday.
"We categorically reject the appearance of this singer because there is a risk of encouraging homosexuality in Morocco," the head of the Justice and Development Party (PJD) parliamentary group, Mustapha Ramid, told AFP.
"The problem is not with the singer himself but the image he has in society," another leading party member, Lahcen Daoudi, added.
"Moroccan society has a negative perception of this singer and we must take it into consideration."

Unlike in Egypt, where the musicians union were the ones who decided to ban him, these Moroccan Islamists were not successful:

[Elton John will perform in] Morocco this month despite calls from the country's main Islamic party for the gay star to be banned, organizers said Monday.

Artistic director Aziz Daki told AFP that cancelling the concert on the grounds of John's homosexuality would "undermine the respect of privacy" and "breach certain values that the international Mawazine festival is based on."

I heard that the Islamists tried to compromise with the singer, asking him to change the lyrics to "Saturday Night's Alright for Jihad."

They already liked "Rocket Man."

Good news from Morocco

From Al-Arabiya:

This year's festival of the Atlantic Andalusias, held in the Moroccan port of Essaouira, will focus on a Moroccan Jewish musical tradition known as Matrouz, organisers announced Thursday.

During the festival, to be held from October 29 to November 1, there will be concerts to gather together "our poets, our musicians and our singers, Muslims and Jews, to sing and dance together," Andre Azoulay, festival chairman and an advisor to Morocco's King Mohammed VI, told AFP.

The north African country's Jewish art is a "major component of the cultural wealth and identity in Morocco," Azoulay said. "It shouldn't just be reduced to folklore (...). It gives the best example of how to make mentalities evolve by going out to meet other people."

Matrouz is a tradition that dates back several centuries. One example of the art form will be a concert in which the rabbi Haim Louk will sing accompanied by the Zyriab orchestra from Oudja in east Morocco.

Sir Moses Montefiore's visit to Morocco, 1863

In October of 1863, a Spaniard in Morocco died, and naturally the community found a Jewish scapegoat(from Sir Moses Montefiore: a centennial biography, published in 1884):

At Saffi, a seaport on the West coast of Morocco, a
Spaniard had died suddenly, and suspicions of foul
play, probably poisoning, had been aroused in the
mind of the Spanish Consul. In his official capacity
he called upon the Moorish authorities to investigate
the case, and they, in great trepidation, cast about for
a convenient scapegoat. The procedure was singular.
No steps were taken to ascertain whether there were
any facts to establish the cause of death, or to show
that it had a connection with crime; but the most
convenient person was forthwith arrested and examined
under the scourge and other kinds of torture.
Israelites being the least protected of the population,
the culprit was sought among their body, and it being
discovered that a Jewish lad, about fourteen years of
age, Jacob Wizeman by name, had resided in the
family of the deceased, he was seized and "examined."

The fourteen year old boy was tortured and finally confessed to this "crime" and he gave the names of eleven other Jews as co-conspirators.

The lad, when released, re-asserted his innocence ; this, however, did not save him. His confession being on record, he was condemned to death by the Moorish authorities and publicly executed, the Spanish Consul acquiescing in the sentence, notwithstanding the irregular manner in which the conviction had been obtained.

Eight of the other eleven were sentenced to prison and one other was tortured and executed.

Anti-Jewish riots broke out, described here in Appletons' Annual Cyclopædia and Register of Important Events of the Year, 1863:

The most notahle case of persecution of Jews occurred, in 1863, in Morocco, a country in which as in Mohammedan countries in general they have often been taxed, fined, beaten with " khoorbashes," bastinadoed with maize canes; in which they have been torn from their shops by agas and emirs to work for nothing, laughed at in the law courts, derided in public, oppressed in private, their complaints disregarded, their rights ignored, and their adopted home made for.them a place of misery and shame.

The account of their sufferings induced that celebrated Jewish philanthropist, Sir Moses Montefiore, to undertake a journey to the sultan of Morocco, to implore justice for his co-religionists.

Sir Moses was resolved to sec the sultan, and ask justice in the name of God and man. He pushed up the country by marches of fifteen miles a day, in the horse litter used by women «nd the sick—his name and the nature of his errand going before him....[The sultan] welcomed his generous visitor; admired the spirit and fortitude which had brought his silver hairs so far at such a season ; praised the well-known exertions of the baronet for others, not of his race only, but of all creeds in other countries; finally, he received very graciously the petition for justice. A few days afterward a firman appeared:

"In the name of God the merciful and gracious," granting to his Jewish subjects perfect equality of right and of protection under the law. " For," says the sultan, with truth, not the less sound or welcome because it is tardy, " injustice here is injustice in Heaven, and we cannot countenance it in any matter affecting either the Jews' rights or the rights of others, our own dignity being itself opposed to such a course. All persons in our regard have an equal claim to justice, and, if any person should wrong or injure one of the Jews, we will, with the help of God, punish him."

Montefiore not only managed to get this proclamation to protect the Jewish minority in Morocco, but he got the sultan to extend similar protection to Christians. In addition, he got the prisoners released. He also interceded for a Moorish man who was unjustly accused of killing two Jews:

Sir Moses did not confine his attention to the Jews.
During his stay at Tangier he was one day visited by
a large deputation of Moors, about fifty in number,
who, with their chiefs, had come from a distant part
of the country to appeal to him. to intercede for the
release of one of their tribe, who had been imprisoned
during two years and a half on suspicion of having
murdered two Israelties, but had not been brought to
trial. Gratified at this display of confidence in his
sense of justice on the part of the native population,
generally so hostile to Jews, Sir Moses made careful
inquiries into the case, and, finding that the man's
guilt had not been proved, promptly interceded with
the authorities. In a few hours the prisoner's chains
were removed, and he was brought by the members of
his tribe to return thanks to his deliverer. Sir Moses
availed himself of the opportunity to urge the grateful
Moors to show kindness and afford protection to his
co-religionists; and they readily gave their solemn
promise that all Jews travelling in their district should
be safe.

And finally he donated money to establish a Jewish girls' school in Tangiers.

He accomplished all of this in eight days, traveling throughout Morocco on camel, covering sixteen miles a day.

Montefiore was eighty years old.

Israeli dates sold in Morocco - Muslims freak out

One of the top stories at IslamOnline.net:

RABAT — Branded with Israeli trademark "Bat Sheva", Israeli dates are flooding Moroccan markets during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

"I found dates carrying Israeli trademark in the markets," Abdel-Jalil, a teacher, told IslamOnline.net Saturday, September 22.

Trademarked "Bat Sheva" – the Hebrew name of the town of Beersheba (well, no it isn't - it is the Hebrew name for Bathsheba - EoZ) – the Israeli dates can been seen in abundance on the shelves in eastern and central Morocco.

The "Made in Israel" label is obviously seen on the packages.

"We used to buy dates from Arab countries such as Tunisia," said hajj Mohamed, a dates vendor.

"I myself would not buy dates produced by our enemy," he said.

Mohamed said some merchants are greedy and uncaring.

"They disrespect the sensibilities of Moroccans and are only after money," he said.

He said some retailers are baffling merchants like him and mix Israeli dates with Arab ones.

"The other day, I was shocked to know that some of the dates were made in Israel," he said.

Abdel-Jalil, the teacher, says merchants tend to remove the Israeli label and sell the dates as if they were made in Arab countries like Egypt.

"This is provocative," said Khaled Al-Sufiany, coordinator of the national group for the support of Iraq and Palestine.

"The pro-Israel camp is exploiting Ramadan and slam dunk a trade normalization on the laypeople," he added.

The advocates "are funding the Zionist regime to continue its daily crimes against the Palestinians," he said.

Morocco repeatedly denies any trade relations with Israel.

The North African kingdom closed its trade office in Tel Aviv and the Israeli trade office in Rabat following the outbreak of the 2000 Al-Aqsa intifada.

But non-government groups say that the two countries are having booming ties, especially in the agricultural field.

A recent report by Israel Export Institute said that Israeli exports to Morocco mushroomed by 5.3 percent in the first quarter of 2006.

The comments on the article are even funnier:

could be harmfull

By bilade on 2007-09-22 16:55 (GMT)

israel is known to put chemicals in food they export to arab countries that make you steral. there not harmful chemicals but they make you not have children anymore. so good luck with that!!

By Ahmed on 2007-09-22 20:16 (GMT)

I fully support the previous comment by Bilade commented. I really disappointed by our Muslim bothers not only in Morroco but sadly almost everywhere. And this is prove of that ahadith of our beloved Rassullu allah (S.A.W). Which says that. There is the time will come we (Muslims) will be many but fibble.

I feel very sorry for our brothers in Palestine

By Nawale on 2007-09-22 22:54 (GMT)

I'm a Moroccan girl and I feel manupilated from our government and those merchants that sell us those Israely products without our knowledge.
It's a shame . Hasbona Allah Wani3ema Alewakile

UPDATE: I just saw that Israellycool beat me to this story. But he does have a six hour advantage :)

Moroccan Imam recruited suicide bombers

From AP, but hardly published anywhere (only three mentions in Google News):

Moroccan police have arrested a Muslim prayer leader who is suspected of recruiting young men to be suicide bombers in the insurgency in Iraq, a newspaper reported.

The imam, identified by police simply as Abdelilah according to Aujourd'hui Le Maroc newspaper, was arrested Monday in Tetouan, a city in northern Morocco near the Strait of Gibraltar.

Abdelilah preached at a mosque in Mezouak, a vast slum on the city's outskirts, exhorting Moroccans to "fight the American-Zionist occupation in Iraq," the newspaper quoted police as saying.

Two young men who attended the mosque carried out suicide bombings in Baquba, Iraq, last month, and a further five Moroccans linked to the mosque are believed to have joined the Iraq insurgency, the daily said.

Last night on O'Reilly a representative from CAIR was disputing whether most terrorism comes from Muslims. It is instructive to see that a story where a religious leader is recruiting young men to blow up themselves and as many others as possible is completely buried. I suspect that it is not because of political correctness but simply because this is not newsworthy.

A priest who fondles boys, or a rabbi who embezzles money, deservedly get headlines exactly because they are behaving in a way that is utterly foreign and disgusting and hypocritical. This is what makes a story interesting and therefore newsworthy.

Objectively speaking, the fact that two suicide bombers in Iraq came from the same small mosque from thousands of miles away in Morocco, and three other members are suspected of being in Iraq right now, is noteworthy. But it is not considered unusual by the media, because we know there are many imams exhorting their flocks to jihad. It is the old dog-bites-man standard of news. (In fact, one of the three news outlets that mentions this story only prints it as an afterthought with a story about a German man jailed in Morocco for converting Muslims.)

While the media's stance is understandable - they are in the business of selling their product and they choose news stories based on that fact - it is still irresponsible. Treating Muslim clerics with a different standard than others plays right into the hands of those who try to sell the world on a wholesome Islam that doesn't support terror. Stories like these should not be shunted aside by newspaper editors.