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Divided Dreams: Moroccan Jewish Migrations and Politicized Identities in the 1960s
Abstract
This paper compares the divided dreams of the ardently leftist, patriotic and anti-Zionist Jews who remained in Morocco and those of the Moroccan Jews in Israel in the 1960s. These dreams became mutually constitutive and contrapuntally constructive in their visions of the place of Jews in the region and in the nation as an abstract entity deserving of allegiance. The moment of Moroccan independence in 1956 was optimistic for Jews. The Istiqlal (“Independence” in Arabic) government with King Mohammed V at its head appointed a Jewish minister, and the Muslim-Jewish unity group, al-Wifaq (“Accord”), drew the support from all segments of society. Such movements, however, coincided with the 1956 Suez crisis. Following this conflict, pre-existing tensions of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism became increasingly conflated in the Moroccan public sphere, polarizing members of the Jewish community against one another in addition to the Jewish community vis-à-vis the majority Moroccan Muslim society. The ensuing mass migration of Moroccan Jews to Israel would ebb and flow in response to domestic and international events, as well as the intermittent legality of such migration. Many Jews remained, however. Of them, a handful were ardently committed to the Moroccan nationalist cause, and with it, a patriotic rejection of Zionism. These Jews were members of the Moroccan Communist Party (PCM) and were frequently at odds with both the dominant governmental forces as well as the wider Jewish community who, for the most part, supported Israel. The Jewish members of the PCM harshly criticized those Jews who left Morocco as traitors or “dupes” of Zionism, and were suspicious of the Ashkenazi dominated state structures of Israel. Meanwhile, those Moroccan Jews who arrived in Israel enjoyed a rude welcome to their new home. Most were placed in the infamous ma’abarot (transit camps) with inadequate sanitation and cramped space. When they finally received housing, it was typically in far from desirable locations, on the borderlands of Palestinian territories. They received sub-par government education, menial labor positions, within an Ashkenazi dominated public sphere that deemed them “backward” and in need of civilizing according to modern Israeli standards. And yet, such experiences catalyzed Moroccan Jews to “double down” on their Israeli identities. Through an examination of archival sources, novels and newspapers, I argue that each community of migrants and remnants reflected their visions and dreams of Jewish and national citizenship against one another, shaping justifications for their political and cultural identities.
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
Maghreb
Sub Area
Diaspora/Refugee Studies