Morocco: Between Arabia and the West

By Michael S. Arnold · November 30, 1999

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CASABLANCA, Morocco, March 16 (JTA) — When American Jewish leaders were planning their visit to Morocco last month, one of their goals was to shore up the country’s commitment to the war on terrorism. They didn’t realize how timely their visit would be. Moroccans have been part of nearly every Al-Qaida cell discovered in Europe over the past two years, and a number of Moroccans have emerged as suspects in last week’s massive suicide bombings in Spain. Over the past decade, the scheduled stopover en route to the annual Israel mission of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations has become as valuable as the time spent in Jerusalem. This year’s stop in Morocco was no exception. Conference officials choose the stopover on each year’s mission with an eye to building strategic relationships that can help Israel and the Jewish people. Recent destinations have included Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Qatar and Jordan — relatively moderate Muslim states that can form a “firewall” against the spread of Islamic fundamentalism, in the words of Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the conference, an umbrella association of 54 groups representing a broad Jewish religious and political spectrum. The group is seen as an important voice of American Jewry in Washington and around the world. Conference officials had considered a visit to Morocco for several years, but as Israeli-Palestinian violence raged and King Mohammed VI consolidated his control after ascending to power in 1999, the timing was never propitious. The pieces fell into place after Mohammed visited New York last fall and extended an invitation at a meeting with conference leaders. “This is one of the most sensitive and significant trips we have taken,” Hoenlein said during the three-day visit. “In Morocco you not only have a Jewish community” — one gravely shaken by a series of suicide bombings last May — “but important geopolitical issues." For the conference, three issues were paramount: reassuring the Jewish community, strengthening Mohammed’s stand against terrorism and enlisting the king’s aid to break the Israeli-Palestinian impasse. As chair of the Organization of the Islamic Conference’s Jerusalem Committee — and, according to tradition, a descendant of the founder of Islam — Mohammed has the credentials in the Arab world to push for peace and normalization with Israel, conference leaders believe. “I believe his majesty will play the largest role among all the Arab leaders,” Hoenlein said. “In the vacuum of leadership in the Middle East, he can show courage in that role. And as a descendant of the prophet, he has standing in the Muslim world that can’t be ignored.” Morocco’s cooperation in the war on terrorism is no less essential. Indeed, Moroccan intelligence has become an important ally of Western agencies seeking to crack down on Islamic radicalism, especially in the days since the deadly attacks in Madrid. Last year’s Casablanca bombings were a trial for the young king, who had yet to conclusively demonstrate his authority. After an initial stunned silence, Mohammed has reacted by taking a more assertive stand against Islamic radicalism and for women’s rights, an issue considered a litmus test for Muslim countries that want to fully enter the modern world. For Mohammed, the Conference of Presidents visit was a means of strengthening his ties to the West and burnishing his credentials as an ally against terrorism. In the background is the belief, common in the Arab world, that American Jews constitute a lobby of unrivaled influence in Washington. Moroccan officials are thought to believe that U.S. Jews can help Morocco finalize a free-trade agreement currently under discussion with the United States — the first in Africa and only the second in the Arab world — and build support at the United Nations for Morocco’s contested claim to the Western Sahara. Conference leaders indeed are talking up the free-trade agreement in Washington. But more than that, Hoenlein says, is the necessity of boosting a country with one foot in the Middle East and one in Europe — Mohammed is moving, haltingly, on steps toward democracy and reform — more firmly into the Western camp. “If we’re serious about fighting Islamic fundamentalism, we have to be more supportive of the countries that are more moderate but that are largely ignored,” he said. The conference long has advocated for increased U.S. aid to Morocco. This year, U.S. foreign aid was raised to $65 million from $12 million — but that’s still only a fraction of the amount given to other U.S. allies in the Arab world, such as Egypt and Jordan. Both those countries saw their U.S. aid soar after signing peace treaties with Israel. It’s not clear the extent to which Morocco will help revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Some say the hope that Mohammed will take a leading role is exaggerated. Morocco “is willing to take some steps, but I don’t think they’re willing to take the lead on this,” Tim Lenderking, the political adviser of the U.S. embassy in Rabat, told the American Jewish group. Morocco froze its ties with Israel after the intifada began, closing its liaison office in Tel Aviv. Yet lately there have been signs of a thaw. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom was invited on an official visit to Morocco last September, and Moroccan officials are believed to be eager to revive links that saw thousands of Israeli tourists, including many of Moroccan descent, visit the country in the late 1990s. The fact that the Conference of Presidents visit featured so prominently in the country’s state-sponsored media was taken as a sign of the importance Mohammed places on cultivating relations with American Jewry. Indeed, a meeting that Hoenlein and several other top members of the conference held with the king was the top item on that night’s newscast. Mohammed took a tough line at the half-hour meeting, criticizing Israel’s West Bank security barrier and urging Israel to negotiate with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, according to members of the small Jewish delegation at the meeting. Israel and the United States have shunned Arafat because of his ties to terrorism. Insisting on anonymity, one member of the delegation said Mohammed may have felt obliged to take a harder line after his foreign minister, meeting with the full American group the previous day, had strongly criticized Palestinian terrorists and said it was “impossible” for Palestinian refugees and their descendants to return to their former homes in Israel. The foreign minister later claimed he had been misquoted, an indication that such forthright statements — most unusual for an Arab official speaking on the record — had caused some consternation. Still, the American group considered their audience in the royal tent important. “The significant thing is the ongoing relationship” that Jewish leaders are developing with the king, the conference’s chairman, James Tisch, told JTA. “The king, I think, can be very influential at some point in time when he sees a real opportunity for progress” toward Israeli-Arab peace. At least, the closer ties have produced one tangible result — the Conference of Presidents launched a relief fund immediately after a late February earthquake in Morocco killed an estimated 300 people. Donations will be given through the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee to the Moroccan Jewish community, which will distribute them to victims on a non-sectarian basis.

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Morocco: Between Arabia and the West

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