Any reforms made by France in Morocco must include the granting of full legal equality to the 250,000 native Moroccan Jews, a delegation of American Jewish Committee leaders declared here today upon their return from a tour of Jewish communities in North Africa.
The group also urged that guarantees against discrimination based on national origin, race or religion should be an integral part of the conventions now being drafted in Paris by French and Tunisian negotiators for an autonomous Tunisia. Such action would put teeth into the promises made the delegation last week by the Bey of Tunis who said that there would be no discrimination against Jews in his country as long as he lived.
The delegation conferred with Christian Fouchet, French Minister for Moroccan and Tunisian Affairs, and with Francois Mitterand, Minister of the Interior. The AJC delegates will make their recommendations to Premier Pierre Mendes-France too, some time during his visit to the United States within the next two weeks.
An important step in achieving full equality for Moroccan Jews, the AJC group reported, would be to grant the Jews a nationality status under the Moroccan state rather than as subjects of the Moslem Sultan, The delegation, which returns to the United States tomorrow, will draft its full report including recommendations, in the U.S.
The delegation consisted of Irving M. Engel, president; Jacob Blaustein, honorary president, and Dr. John Slaws on, executive director. They were joined in Paris by Zachariah Schuster, AJC director for Europe, who accompanied them through North Africa.
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