A statement suggesting that France should be a co-guarantor, together with the two local governments, of any human rights conventions agreed upon for Tunisia and Morocco was presented here during the weekend to the State Department and to the French Ambassador in the United States by a delegation of the American Jewish Committee.
The delegation pointed out that the 220, 000 Jews in Morocco are still classed as “dhimmis,” with no rights as citizens. They live by sufferance as proteges of the Sultan, with no right to vote, obtain a passport, or even have their sworn oaths accepted in a Moroccan court of law. The delegation was composed of Irving M. Engel, AJC president; Jacob Blaustein, honorary president, and Dr. John Slawson, executive vice-president.
“The welfare of all North African people,” the AJC memorandum declared, “is of vital concern to citizens and the Government of the United States, not alone for humanitarian reasons, but also because the stability of the entire Moslem world may well depend on the developments in North Africa in the immediate future.”
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