This is a photograph of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres with Moroccan King Hassan II, taken during their 1993 meeting in Morocco. In the front row, from left to right are Peres, Hassan, and Rabin, dressed formally in suits and ties. Peres and Hassan are talking to each other, while Rabin is looking straight ahead. In the second row, King Hassan’s son, Crown Prince Mohammed, is talking to Rafi Edri, a Moroccan-born Israeli member of Knesset. The meeting seems friendly, as many of the men are smiling and talking.
Rabin and Peres made a surprise detour on their way back to Israel after signing the Oslo Accords in Washington. They stopped in Morocco to pay tribute to the efforts of King Hassan in helping the peace process thus far. Diplomatic relations were not established between the two countries at this time, but Rabin and Peres were optimistic about its future development.
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Jewish Community of Morocco – Jews have a long history of living in Morocco. Although there are oral traditions of Jews living in Morocco during the time of the First Temple, the first archaeological evidence dates to the second century CE. After the Muslim conquest of Morocco in 788 CE, the situation for the Jewish community depended on the tribe that was ruling the land and thus fluctuated between persecution and tolerance. After the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, many Jews fled to Morocco and the community grew. In 1860, the Jewish educational organisation Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU) was founded. The Alliance, as it was known, was very active in Morocco and opened schools across the country in which the students were taught the French language and culture along with Jewish subjects. In 1912, Morocco became a protectorate of France and this French education proved to be a valuable asset. During World War II, Morocco was controlled by the pro-Nazi Vichy government. When the Vichy government instituted decrees that discriminated against Jews, Morocco’s Sultan Mohammed V defied the command and refused to put them into practice. By 1948, approximately 260,000 Jews lived in Morocco. With the establishment of the State of Israel in May 1948, riots broke out in Morocco and Jews began to flee to Israel and other countries. When Morocco gained its independence from France in 1956, King (formerly the Sultan) Mohammed V returned to the country and life for Jews in Morocco improved temporarily. However, a few months later, Jews were forbidden to immigrate to Israel and the Jewish Agency offices, which had been helping Jews to immigrate, were closed down. Between 1956 and 1961, 25,000 Moroccan Jews left Morocco for Israel illegally. Figures from 2014 say that 2,500 Jews are still living in Morocco. It is estimated that nearly one million Jews of Moroccan descent live in Israel.
Oslo I Accord – The Oslo I Accord was a framework intended to lead to a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It was the first face-to-face agreement between the Israeli government and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Secret negotiations between Israel and the PLO had been previously conducted in Oslo, Norway, and the Accord was subsequently signed on the lawn of the White House on September 13, 1993 in the presence of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, and US President Bill Clinton. The Accord created an interim Palestinian government, the Palestinian Authority (PA), which would administer the territory under its control. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would accordingly withdraw from parts of the West Bank and Gaza. The PLO acknowledged the State of Israel and pledged to renounce violence; Israel recognized the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people and agreed to negotiate with them. The Oslo I Accord was followed by Oslo II in 1995.