9
The Moroccan Nationalist Movement and
Its Attitude toward Jews and ZionismDalit AtrakchiIn the 1940s and 1950s, Morocco went through a bitter and painful strug-
gle to achieve its independence and, later, to realize political unification
and social unity. The challenge for independence was led by the Moroc-
can Nationalist Movement, which included a few political parties headed
by the Istiqlal (Independence Party).
One of the most challenging issues for the people of the Moroccan
Nationalist Movement and their leaders was the status of the Jews, the
largest minority group in Morocco. On the eve of Morocco’s indepen-
dence, its Jewish population numbered between 250,000 and 280,000 and
was concentrated in three main areas: French Morocco, Spanish Morocco,
and the International Zone of Tangier. There were Jewish communities in
the larger cities and in many villages throughout Morocco, both along the
Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts and in the mountainous inland areas.
The general focus of this chapter is on the somewhat complex and spe-
cial relations between two groups: the leaders and the Moroccan public
opinion molders who stood at the forefront of the Moroccan challenge for
independence and were later the leaders of the independent country, and
the Moroccan Jewish community. Although there had been tension dur-
ing various periods of Morocco’s long history, the relationship between
the two groups was influenced mainly by a culture that was shared by
both sides. Our emphasis is on the second half of the twentieth century
when two developments affected this relationship: the above-mentioned