Jewish Leaders Invited to Farticipate in Franco-moroccan Peace Talks

Two representatives of Moroccan Jewry were invited by the French Government to participate in the talks between French and Moroccan leaders which started today at Aix-les-Bains for the purpose of putting an end to the bloody disturbances in Morocco, during which Jews were killed and Jewish homes and stores looted and burned by Arab mobs as part of their insurrection against the French administration.

The two Jewish leaders who were summoned to the Aix-les-Bains negotiations are Jacques Dahan, Secretary General of the Council of Jewish Communities of Morocco, and Dr. Leon Ben Zaquen, member of the Casablanca Jewish Community. While they were on their way today to France, other Jewish leaders here were seeking detailed data on the damage suffered by Jews in the riots in Mazagan and Safi, where hundreds of Jewish families had their homes burned by Arab mobs.

A complete picture of the losses of Jewish lives and property in the various towns in Morocco where the riots took place during the last few days is still not available here. However, it is known that while many of the Jewish houses and stores in Mazagan and Safi were stormed, looted and destroyed by fire, no Jew was killed there. In Que Zane seven Jewish stores were looted and burned down.

Casablanca papers today published a statement issued this week by the World Jewish Congress taking note of the assurance given in New York by Moroccan Nationalist leaders that Jews need not fear that in an independent Morocco they will suffer from discrimination in any form, and that “Jewish Moroccans will be citizens equal both in law and in fact with Moslem.” The press also published a statement by the Central Moroccan Committee of the World Jewish Congress emphasizing the fact that similar assurances have been issued by a number of Nationalist Party leaders in Morocco.

( In Washington, a delegation of Moroccan Nationalist leaders arrived today from New York to stimulate diplomatic missions of Asian and African countries to appeal on their behalf to the U.S. Government. Representations on behalf of the Moroccans have been made to the State Department by envoys of the Arab League countries).