Secret Talks on Status of Jews in Independent Algeria Held in Geneva

Secret negotiations about the fate of the Jews in Algeria, after the country is given independence, are now going on in Geneva between representatives of the French Government and the Algerian Front of National Liberation, it was reported here today from French sources.

The report said that the Algerian nationalist leaders seemed to have accepted the idea that the European community in Algeria would be entitled to maintaining dual nationality after the country is declared independent. In this framework, it was indicated, the majority of the Jewish population in Algeria will be the holders of two citizenships–French and Algerian.

The question of the status of the Jews in Algeria, who are now all holders of French citizenship, was raised by the French representatives as part of a demand that the Algerian nationalists provide necessary guarantees for the European community in an independent Algeria.

The negotiations to clarify the status of the Jews in Algeria are being concluded in Geneva by a group headed by M. Pompidou, a close personal adviser of President Charles de Gaulle. M. Pompidou is not Jewish, but is known to be keenly interested in Jewish subjects and particularly in the problem of Algerian Jewry. The Algerian nationalists are represented in the talks by Ahmed Boumandjel, one of their top negotiators.

Leaders of Jewish organizations in Paris are at the same time conducting talks with French officials here to seek reassurances that Algerian Jews will be considered an integral part of the European community and that all guarantees given by the rebel leaders to the Europeans will apply to Algerian Jews. The Jewish leaders were told that President de Gaulle was determined to protect French citizens of the Jewish faith on the premise that Algerian Jews were French citizens and as such entitled to the full protection of the French Government.