162 · Dalit Atrakchi
c. the reactions of the Nationalists, the Istiqlal, and its leader,
̔Allal al-Fassi, as the exemplification of attitudes toward the Jew-
ish community and toward ̔aliya, Jewish emigration to Israel.The most significant changes in the lives of Morocco’s Jews occurred with
the implementation of the French protectorate in 1912, which affected the
attitudes and the status of the Jews, mainly of those living in the cities.
Their integration into the new educational institutions, which champi-
oned European characteristics, also affected their status and allowed for
entry into the French administration systems as well. At the beginning of
the French protectorate, Jews cultivated hopes of a change in their legal
and social status. They were prepared to accept the many facets of French
cultural influence and believed that in this way they were serving their
own needs and interests as well.^5
Most researchers have assumed that the Muslims perceived foreign
colonization as a national calamity. Most Jews living in Muslim countries
did not share this view. Although the French policy of “divide and rule,”
common throughout the territories they colonized, was instituted in Mo-
rocco as well, and despite the fact that they made use of the Jews in order
to establish their rule there, the latter were never fully integrated into
French society and always remained outsiders. Moreover, as the Jews
made efforts to get closer to the French, the Protectorate instigated con-
siderable agitation in the Jewish-Muslim relationship. In the first years
of the Protectorate, most Jews were in a conflicted predicament: while
restrictions formerly imposed on them were canceled and the traditional
discrimination toward them as dhimmis was eased, they continued to be
treated as protected subjects of the sultan. They were thus unable to take
part in local politics or be integrated into the higher levels of either the
local administration systems or those of the French protectorate.^6
The penetration of Zionism into Morocco as an alternative to the other
two processes for Moroccan Jews led to the virtual “self-destruction”
of the Jewish community of Morocco. This was seen toward the end of
World War II with a large-scale Jewish emigration. The emigrants’ main
destination was Palestine—from 1948 the state of Israel—while a small
number emigrated to France and other European countries and to North
America. It is estimated that in the early 1970s, only 20,000 Jews remained
in all of Morocco.
Zionist activity in northwest Africa (Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia)