This is part III of what I hope will be a 5 part series this week concerning Jews who emigrated from Arab and Muslim countries after Israel declared its independence in 1948.
Part I - Introduction, A Summary of Allegations Made and Information Omitted, Statistics, Notes on Israeli Laws Passed Immediately after Israeli Independence Regarding Palestinians and Their Possessions, Land Ownership in Israel Today
Part II - Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen/Aden, Libya
Part III -Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco
Part IV - Lebanon, Syria
Part V - Egypt, Iraq, Closing Notes
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If you are interested in my feelings about Israel and Palestine please read Just Me and I/P.
Tunisia
In 1948 Tunisia was a French protectorate and had been since 1881.
As a protectorate Tunisia was technically still an independent country and its king (Bey) remained in office. However, the country was governed by the French Resident General who was the Prime Minister, Comptroller of Finances and the commander of its armed forces.
The Morinaud Law of 1923 made it possible for Jews in Tunisia to become French citizens.
In June, 1940 Tunisia came under the control of Vichy France after France surrendered to Germany.
Jews in Tunisia under the Vichy French suffered from forced labor, high taxes, being excluded from categories of jobs, and humiliation. In November, 1942 when Nazi Germany learned that Allied forces were being transported to Morocco and Algeria they sent German forces to occupy Tunisia. The situation of Jews in Tunisia then became much worse.
During the next six months Allied forces defeated the Axis forces in north Africa, in Morocco, Algeria, Libya and then Tunisia. In May, 1943 Tunisia was liberated. Life for Jews in Tunisia then began to return to normal and laws which had been passed by the Vichy French were cancelled.
The Alliance Israelite Universelle and the Oeuvre pour Secour des Enfants Israelites (OSE) were active in Tunisia in 1948.
The Alliance Israelite Universelle provided education and OSE provided medical care.
It is reported that about 105,000 Jews lived in Tunisia in 1948.
The number of Jews in Tunisia is reported to have remained stable until 1955 with population growth from births being offset by emigration.
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and the Organization for Rehabilitation through Training (ORT) began operations in Tunisia in 1950. The JDC is still active today. The ORT stopped operations in 1972 due to the decline in the number of Jews in Tunisia and an aging Jewish population there.
The Caisse Israelite de Relevement Economique (Loan Society) financed by the JDC and the Jewish Colonization Association began operations in Tunisia in June, 1953.
On September 6, 1954, the king declared Yom Kippur a legal holiday for all Jews in Tunisia at the request of the Jewish community of Tunis.
A report by the American Jewish Committee states:
New eligibility criteria for emigrants were introduced in November 1954, and a commission of four specialists arrived from Israel to implement them. More detailed social, vocational, and medical histories were secured, and emigrants were assigned either to industrial development areas or to agricultural settlements in Israel. The maximum age limit was set at forty-five years, except for those families with at least one son over eighteen years of age who could support the family on arrival. The head of a family could take with him a maximum of six members if he could support them in Israel. However, if the son was the only working member of the family, no more than five members could emigrate. Families assigned to the colonization area could not exceed a total of six persons. Medical criteria were tightened to exclude the infirm and chronic or serious invalids. These new restrictions accounted for the decrease in the number of Jewish families coming from the southern part of the country, and led to considerable dissatisfaction among them. The Zionist Federation of Tunisia had protested against these regulations since their first enactment, and insisted that Tunisian Jews be permitted to emigrate to Israel en masse without any selective screening.
In 1956 35,000 of the Jews in Tunisia were French citizens.
The number of Jews in Tunisia is reported to have decreased to 80,000 in 1957.
In 1955 after long negotiations between the government of France and Habib Bourguiba, who had been the leader of Tunisia’s independence movement for 22 years, France agreed to Tunisia’s becoming independent.
However, France retained control of the port city of Bizerte and its strategic naval base on the Mediterranean coast and promised to negotiate the status of Bizerte after Tunisia became independent.
On March 20, 1956 King Muhammad VIII al-Amin proclaimed the independence of the Kingdom of Tunisia, and Habib Bourguiba became the president of the National Constituent Assembly and Head of the Government.
On July 25, 1957 the monarchy was abolished, the Republic of Tunisia was formed, and Habib Bourguiba became the President of the Republic.
Reforms followed quickly in the newly independent Tunisia, especially in the areas of education, the liberation of women, and legal reforms and in 1957 the Rabbinical and Koranic tribunals were replaced by secular courts and there was no legal distinction between Jews and other Tunisian citizens, including the right to vote and hold office.
The number of Jews in Tunisia is reported to have gradually decreased to 60,000 in 1961 and then to 40,000 in 1962.
Tunisia joined the Arab League in October, 1958.
The Bizerte Crisis of 1961 began when Tunisia learned that France was planning to expand the Bizerte airbase. The situation was already tense because France had constantly refused to cede the city and the base to Tunisia.
In July, 1961 Tunisia imposed a blockade on the base hoping to force its evacuation. This resulted in a battle between the Tunisian military and the French military which lasted three days. The battle ended when the French overran the city on July 23, 1961.
The French retained control of Bizerte but 630 Tunisians and 24 French troops were killed in the battle. France finally ceded the city and base to Tunisia in 1963 after the Algerian War had ended.
The number of Jews in Tunisia is reported to have gradually decreased to 23,000 in 1966.
In the early 1960s Tunisia was suffering from an economic depression. The standard of living was getting worse and there was widespread unemployment and underemployment.
To address this on May 31, 1962 President Bourguiba signed a law creating a three-year plan to replace private businesses in the major areas of economic activity with state monopolies or cooperatives. The government also implemented an austerity program.
Many Jewish families are reported to have closed down their businesses and immigrated to France during this period.
It is also reported that following these measures Tunisian Jews who were also French citizens were allowed to leave with all of their possessions while those who only had Tunisian citizenship were allowed to leave with 30 Dinars and their clothes. The articles do not make it clear whether this was only applicable to Jews or to the general population.
Direct telephone communications between Israel and Tunisia were also cut soon after these measures were implemented.
The number of Jews in Tunisia is reported to have decreased to 10,000 in 1968.
When the 1967 Six-Day War began a few anti-Israeli riots broke out. Some Jews were attacked, 100 Jewish shops were looted and several were burned.
The government intervened and President Bourguiba strongly denounced the violence in a speech broadcast on radio and television. He also apologized to the Jewish community.
Most of the Jews who left Tunisia after the Six-Day War immigrated to France.
The number of Jews in Tunisia is reported to have gradually decreased to 7,000 in 1978, then to 3,700 in 1982 and then to 3,000 in 1986.
After the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty was signed on March 26, 1979, the members of the Arab League met in Baghdad and voted to suspend Egypt's membership and to transfer its headquarters from Cairo to Tunis. Egypt was readmitted to the Arab League in 1989 and its headquarters returned to Cairo in 1990.
In 1982 the PLO relocated to Tunis after being driven out of Lebanon by Israel during Israel's invasion of Lebanon.
Anti-Israeli sentiment in Tunisia is reported to have increased during this period.
On October 1, 1985 the Israeli Air Force bombed the PLO's Tunis headquarters. More than 50 people are reported to have been killed and 100 wounded in the bombing.
Even though the Tunisian government took steps to protect the Jews in Tunisia some Jews were killed in the Djerba synagogue.
Since 1986 the number of Jews in Tunisia is reported to have continued to gradually decrease and to be about 1,500 currently.
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Algeria
In 1948 Algeria was a French colony and had been since 1830.
All of the European residents and the Jewish community in Algeria became French citizens with the same civil rights as French citizens in France with the 1870 Crémieux Decree. Muslim Arabs and Berbers were excluded and remained under the second-class ‘indigenous’ status. Muslims were given French Citizenship in 1947.
Algerian Jews, as French citizens, attended French schools and quickly integrated into Algerian French society.
In 1880 France conquered the M'zab Region in central Algeria. The relatively small number of Jews who lived there did not become French citizens. This status prevented them from integrating into Algerian society; they were not French citizens, nor were they given the status of Indigenous Algerians.
In June, 1940 Algeria came under the control of Vichy France after France surrendered to Germany.
Jews in Algeria under the Vichy French suffered from forced labor, high taxes, being excluded from categories of jobs, and humiliation. The Vichy French also cancelled the citizenships of Algerian Jews.
In November, 1942 Allied forces defeated the Axis forces and Algeria was liberated. Life for Jews in Algeria then began to return to normal and laws which had been passed by the Vichy French were cancelled.
It is reported that 130,000 Jews lived in Algeria in 1948.
The number of Jews in Algeria is reported to have gradually increased to 140,000 in 1957, then to have gradually decreased to about 120,000 in 1961, and then to have decreased to about 4,000 in 1963.
Many of the M'zab Jews who were not French citizens and were therefore not integrated into Algerian French society were the first to emigrate to Israel.
The very intense and very destructive Algerian War of Independence began in 1954. On January 8, 1961 the French government held a referendum concerning Algeria and three-quarters of the voters supported independence.
On December 26, 1961 France passed a repatriation law allowing French Algerian citizens to be repatriated to metropolitan France.
On March 18, 1962 the Evian Accords were signed by the French government and the Algerian rebels, and a cease-fire was announced by the French government on March 19, 1962 but the fighting did not stop.
The Evian Accords stipulated that the position of the Jews in Algeria would be no different from that of the Christian Europeans in Algeria and that both groups would have all Algerian citizenship rights for three years. After three years they could relinquish French citizenship and register as Algerian citizens or retain French citizenship and live in Algeria as aliens. The Accords also stipulated that they could emigrate without hindrance at any time during or after the three-year transitional period.
On April 8, 1962 the Accords were approved by a referendum in France and on July 1, 1962 they were approved by a referendum in Algeria. The French then declared Algeria to be independent on July 3, 1962 and the Algerians declared independence on July 5, 1962.
A new Algerian government was formed in September, 1962 and Algeria became the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria at the opening session of the National Assembly on September 25, 1962.
The Encyclopaedia Judaica states:
Throughout this period there was a steady flow of emigration of Jews from Algeria. The rate of emigration rose steeply in mid-1962 when, as a result of OAS violence, the community feared that the proclamation of independence would precipitate a Muslim outburst. By the end of July 1962, 70,000 Jews had left for France and another 5,000 for Israel.
The American Jewish Yearbook states:
By the end of July 1962 some 70,000 Jews had left Algeria for France; in addition, an estimated 5,000 had gone to Israel since Passover 1962, and some from Western Algeria had gone to Spain.
It was estimated that in the fall of 1962 only 10,000 Jews remained in Algeria.
Most of the 900,000 Christian Europeans in Algeria also left during 1962. As they left a number of them, estimated to be 100,000, undertook a scorched-earth policy. Their stated aim was to return Algeria to its 1830 state.
They destroyed or took with them most of the governmental documents and records and also destroyed the University of Algiers. Many of them also destroyed the possessions which they could not take with them in order to leave nothing of value behind.
About 91,000 Algerian Muslims, including family members, who had supported the French government in Algeria during the war, also left during 1962.
The huge number of people who left Algeria during this short period made it difficult for many to leave with more than what could be easily carried.
It is estimated that during the war about 500,000 Algerians were killed in the war.
When Algeria became independent hundreds of thousands were homeless, more than half of the workforce was unemployed, and much of the countryside, agriculture and the economy were devastated.
The number of Jews in Algeria is reported to have gradually decreased to about 1,500 in 1968.
The Encyclopaedia Judaica states:
After Algeria had achieved its independence, all its Jews who held French citizenship retained it, except for a few isolated cases. The regime of Ben-Bella maintained a correct relationship with the Jews. During the years 1963–65, the minister of culture addressed the Jewish congregation at the synagogue of Algiers on the Day of Atonement.
In 1965 Algeria's first president, Ahmed Ben Bella, was overthrown by his former ally Houari Boumédienne. Under Boumédienne the situation for Jews changed dramatically. Jews were heavily taxed and declared to no longer be under the protection of the law, and Jewish businesses were boycotted.
Following the 1967 Six-Day War the walls of the synagogues were defaced and all of the synagogues in the country, except one, were converted into mosques.
The number of Jews in Algeria is reported to have gradually decreased to about 1,000 in 1978 and then to about 300 in 1979.
President Boumédienne died in 1978.
Since 1979 the number of Jews in Algeria is reported to have gradually decreased and to be about 100 currently.
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Morocco
In 1948 Morocco consisted of ten different entities.
- Ceuta: a small Spanish exclave (18.5 sq. km) located on the north coast of Morocco which had belonged to Spain since 1668.
- Melilla: a small Spanish exclave (12.3 sq. km) located on the north coast of Morocco which had belonged to Spain since 1497.
- Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera: a very small Spanish exclave (1.9 hectares) located on the north coast of Morocco which had belonged to Spain since 1564.
- Islas Chafarinas: a group of three small Spanish islets in the Mediterranean Sea 3.3 km off the north coast of Morocco which had belonged to Spain since 1847.
- Peñón de Alhucemas: a group of three small Spanish islets in the Mediterranean Sea 300 meters off the north coast of Morocco which had belonged to Spain since 1559.
- The Spanish Protectorate of Morocco: the northern coast of Morocco, except for a short strip near the Algerian border, which had been under Spanish administration since 1912.
- The Southern Spanish Zone of the Protectorate of Morocco: the small (33,000 sq. km) southernmost region of Morocco, also called the Cape Juby Strip, located between the river Draa and the southern border of Morocco, parallel 27º 40' North, which had been under Spanish administration since 1912.
- Ifni: a Spanish exclave (1,502 sq. km) located on the southwest coast of Morocco which had belonged to Spain since 1860.
- The International Zone of Tangier: a city (373 sq. km) on the north coast of Morocco at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar which had been an international zone under the joint administration of France, Spain, and Britain under an international agreement since 1924.
- The French Protectorate of Morocco: the remainder, about 95%, of Morocco which had been under French administration since 1912.
Morocco, except for the Spanish exclaves and islets, was technically ruled by the Sultan of Morocco, but the French Protectorate of Morocco was under the effective control of the French Resident-General, the Spanish Protectorate of Morocco and the Southern Spanish Zone of the Protectorate of Morocco were under the effective control of the Spanish High Commissioner, and the International Zone of Tangier was governed by an internationally appointed Administrator.
In June, 1940 the French protectorate in Morocco came under the control of Vichy France after France surrendered to Germany.
Laws restricting Jewish employment and education were passed by the Vichy French in Morocco and many foreign Jews were sent to concentration camps.
In November, 1942 Allied forces defeated the Axis forces and Morocco was liberated. Life for Jews in Morocco then began to return to normal and laws which had been passed by the Vichy French were cancelled.
It is reported that about 286,000 Jews lived in Morocco in 1948.
The number of Jews in Morocco is reported to have gradually decreased to about 240,000 in 1954 and then to 200,000 in 1956.
In 1948 Morocco was a very poor country and the great majority of Moroccans, both Muslim and Jew, were extremely poor and lived in terrible conditions. The French and Spanish were generally not interested in improving the lives of the people of Morocco. The Sultan was popular but had no real power.
In June, 1948 anti-Jewish riots broke out in Oujda and Djerada, 43 Jews were killed and 155 were wounded. More than 40 of the rioters were arrested, tried and convicted. Two were executed and the rest were sentenced to prison.
After King Mohammed V was exiled in 1953 nationalist groups began active resistance to French and Spanish rule. During the fighting several Jews were killed, some Jewish homes and businesses were looted and a few Jewish schools, operated by Alliance Israelite Universelle, were set on fire.
In 1955 King Mohammed V was allowed to return and negotiations began between the king, the French government, the Spanish government, and the international administrators of Tangier.
After long and complicated negations Morocco gained its independence and became the Kingdom of Morocco in 1956. However, Spain retained the Spanish exclaves, the islets off the north coast of Morocco and the Southern Spanish Zone of the Protectorate of Morocco.
In 1958 Spain returned the Southern Spanish Zone of the Protectorate of Morocco to Morocco after a short war between Morocco and Spain, and in 1969 returned the exclave of Ifni after being pressured to do so by the United Nations.
Almost every Jewish community in Morocco had a central committee whose official functions were to represent the Jewish community, assist the poor, manage religious establishments, and administer religious affairs.
The councils’ sources of income were taxes on the sales of bread, wine and meat by Jewish shops, and contributions from the members of the Jewish community. The Spanish and French governments provided little or no financial support.
According to a 1950 American Jewish Committee report a small percentage of the Jews in Morocco were wealthy, some of them very wealthy, but they provided essentially no support for these committees. The report also states that there was very little community involvement in these councils. In Casablanca, which had a Jewish population of 80,000, the community council had only 425 members. This lack of participation was mostly due to the extreme poverty of most of the Jews in Morocco.
The report also contains information about the work being done in Morocco at the time by international Jewish organizations to improve the Jewish community in Morocco. The Alliance Israelite Universelle, the Joint Distribution Committee, the OSE, and the ORT were providing education, health care, vocational training and assistance to the poor. There was also an Aliyah camp where Moroccan Jewish emigrants stayed for a short time before leaving for Israel.
The report also states that after the first wave of Jewish emigration from Morocco, about 25,000 between June, 1948 and December, 1949, the pace had slowed and added:
Moroccan Jews have the feeling of being somewhat less welcome than Europeans in Israel, and they face greater difficulties in establishing themselves economically.
...
Israeli immigration policy imposes limits. On the one hand, the strain on Israeli reception capabilities has caused the establishment of a system of priorities; on the other hand, health conditions among Moroccan applicants for Israel are so miserable that only 15 per cent can pass the physical examinations without being treated for considerable lengths of time. Only recently, of 1,300 youths who applied for the Aliyah, only 90 were found suitable for emigration. This means that if Moroccan Jews are to be able to emigrate, they must be improved first in Morocco, they must be conditioned for Israeli citizenship.
Emigration accelerated again in 1954 and by the time Morocco became independent about 100,000 Moroccan Jews had emigrated. The majority of them were poor.
The number of Jews in Morocco is reported to have remained stable until 1960 and then to have decreased to 180,000 in 1961 - some reports put the number at 160,000, to 130,000 in 1962, to 100,000 in 1963 and then to 85,000 in 1964.
Following Moroccan independence in 1956 Jewish emigration to Israel was forbidden by law. Emigration to other counties was not forbidden but it was difficult for Jews to get passports because the law also stated that a passport could not be issued if it was believed that it would be used to for emigration to Israel.
King Mohammad V appealed to the Jews in Morocco and asked them not to leave. One of the reasons given for this was that the economy would suffer if large numbers of Jews continued to emigrate.
In 1956 rabbinical courts were converted into state courts of law, except for the Supreme Rabbinical Tribune in Rabat. The Supreme Rabbinical Tribune was abolished by government order in 1965 and its members were appointed judges in state courts.
In 1959 Zionist activity was forbidden and several Jewish organizations closed.
Some illegal emigration occurred and on January 11, 1961 all 42 Jewish men, women, and children on the vessel Pisces, the name is also given as Egoz, died when it sank off the coast of Morocco in a storm. Following this King Mohammed V promised to lift the ban on emigration to Israel, but was unable to do so officially before his death.
On February 26, 1961 King Mohammed V died suddenly and the Jews in Morocco publicly participated in mourning his death. His son, Hassan, was crowned the new king.
Following negotiations between Hassan II, Jewish leaders and Israeli officials emigration was allowed to begin again. The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) opened again in Morocco and emigration resumed, but the ban was not legally lifted until 1963.
These negotiations were the beginning of relations between Israel and Morocco.
Jews who remained in Morocco were subject to military service.
The number of Jews in Morocco is reported to have gradually decreased over the next 35 years, to 31,000 in 1972, to 17,000 in 1982, to 7,500 in 1992 and to 5,900 in 1999.
As the number of Jews in Morocco decreased many Jewish institutions, schools and synagogues gradually closed and there was a lack of rabbis. Many charitable organizations and Jewish newspapers also closed as the number of Jews decreased.
Hassan II was the King of Morocco from 1961 to 1999. The middle years of his reign, from the mid 1960s to the late 1980s is known as the ‘years of lead’. There were several wars caused by border disputes, two assassination attempts against him, political oppression, and violent repression of dissidents.
While at the same time Morocco under Hassan II was a strong ally of the West, particularly the United States.
King Hassan II also provided a back-channel for Arab-Israeli communications, and in 1986 Prime Minister Shimon Peres visited Morocco, as did Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1993. In 1999, King Hassan II also organized the first meeting of the World Union of Moroccan Jews in Marrakech.
Since 1999 the number of Jews in Morocco is reported to have continued to gradually decrease and to be about 3,600 currently.
The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee is still active in Morocco and has been since 1940.
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