Jewish Situation in No. Africa Discussed at Conference in Algiers

The first conference of the North African Jewish communities affiliated with the World Jewish Congress concluded a four-day meeting here and endorsed steps taken by the W.J.C. to improve the conditions of the Jews of Morocco. Urging continuation of these efforts, the conference noted reports of a special status under which Jews in Mazab, Algeria, are subjected to discriminatory measures.

The conference asked the World Jewish Congress to undertake action that would assure the Jews in that city the same status that Jews in other parts of Algeria enjoy and also adopted a decision to establish a permanent body for the purpose of coordinating the activities of the Congress in North Africa.

Attending the conference was a six-man delegation from Algeria headed by B. Heler, president of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Algeria; a five-man delegation from Tunis; and a five-man delegation from Morocco. Representing the W.J.C. executive were A.L. Easterman, political director; Dr. A. Steinberg, head of the W.J.C. cultural department; Dr. G. Riegner, and Marc Jarblum, members of the W.J.C. executive.

In a political survey, Mr. Easterman warned the parley that the anti-Jewish attitude of the Arab states was likely to continue and in recent months had taken new forms. He said this problem must be dealt with on an international level. The W.J.C., he added, is making representations to the governments whose citizens are affected and whenever necessary, to the United Nations, to secure the rights and liberties of Jewish minorities.

“Apart from local and regional problems,” Mr. Easterman said, “there is the issue of the Arab nationalist movement, which has derived support and encouragement from states violently anti-Jewish. After May, 1948, there was discrimination against Jewish communities in Iraq, Yemen, Aden and other Arab areas. As a consultant organization, the W.J.C. brought these violations of human rights to the attention of the United Nations, and these representations reached the Security Council.

“The problems of North African Jewry,” he continued, “should be considered in their totality. The attacks upon the liberties and rights of the Jews, discrimination and the denial of status and security, had their repercussions in other lands. Any success of an anti-Semitic policy in any country was a precedent and source of encouragement to protagonists of such a policy in other countries and called for thinking and planning on an international level by common cooperative action.”