Moroccan Jews World Union winds up constituent meeting
Morocco, Politics, 5/4/1999

The Moroccan Jews World Union wound up on Monday in Marrakesh a two-day constituent meeting, held under the patronage of King Hassan II.

The meeting took important decisions geared towards the definition of the identity of Moroccan-born Jews and the consolidation of their roots and culture that testify to the coexistence that has always existed between the Jews and Muslims of Morocco, the union's president Raphy Edery told MAP news agency.

The meeting was an opportunity for Moroccan Jews to express their mobilization for the preservation of Jewish-Moroccan values, the Jews' attachment to their country of origin through the positions of King Hassan II, who has always advocated permanent peace between Muslims and Jews and between Israelis, Palestinians and Arabs, he added.

Edery likewise underlined the participants' attachment to the establishment of peace between Israelis and Arabs and to security and stability in the Middle-East.

The union decided to open branches in Morocco, France, Spain, Britain, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, the United States, Mexico, Venezuela and Argentina.

Speaking during the union's constituent meeting, advisor to King Hassan II, Andre Azoulay, said "Morocco has once again proved the richness of its peculiarity and the force of its model, demonstrating that confrontation or separation between Jews and Muslims is not a fatality."

He expressed pride over Morocco's success in resisting to all extremism and exclusion temptations and in surviving to all the crises and fears that marked Jewish-Arab relations throughout the second half of the twentieth century.

Only Morocco, with its special political and spiritual context, is today entitled to call with legitimacy, credibility and continuity for dialogue and peace to give the reconciliation process in the Middle-East its genuine dimension, he insisted.

"In Essaouira (his hometown), my parents taught me how to be a Jew and how to respect the dignity and identity of my neighbor. My neighbor as a Jew today is Palestinian," he said.

When the Palestinian people "recovers its freedom, sovereignty and all the ingredients of its identity, I will recover all the values that make up my Judaism," he added.

Previous Stories:
  Moroccan Jews set up world union   (5/3/1999)
  Restored synagogue in Fes dedicated   (2/26/1999)
  Moroccan and Jewish researchers to ponder on Moroccan-Jewish legacy   (2/8/1999)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search