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I
WOULD LIKE TO DEDICATE THIS STORY TO ALL THE HAVERIM OF ALL THE MOVEMENTS WHO
HAVE WORKED IN THE SHADOW OF ANONIMITY.
My
wife, Daphna, is sitting next to me in front of our computer, and I am trying
to reconnect with our distant memories about our clandestine organization in
Morocco.
Forty-four
years later, it is difficult to remember everything that happened, knowing
that memories must be kept again and again to eventually be engraved in our
brain. Unfortunately, as far as I am concerned, it was not my case.
In
1958, at the age of 18, I was approached by a friend of Victor B. Victor was
involved in a clandestine emigration organization that helped Moroccan Jews to
leave for Israel. He, and our friend Meir Weizman (z’l)[1], were eventually
arrested and tortured. Since his Alya, Victor is Haver kibbutz.
I
was introduced to a Shaliah who told me that we had to create the Hashomer
Hatsair in Morocco. In fact, there were only the both of us. A few weeks later,
he offered me to go to Israel at the Machon le Madriche Houtz Iaaretz in
Jerusalem.
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1 – The Hashomer Hatsair
group in Jerusalem
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So,
I went and spent six months at the Mahon, during which I learnt to
speak Hebrew, the history of the Jewish people, etc. Then I spent
six months in the Shouval Kibbutz.
Back
in Morocco in 1959, I reconnected with a Shaliah, Shimon Meller (z’l),
sent by the Hashomer Hatsair. We started crisscrossing the most
important cities trying to form groups of young people willing to
participate. For security reasons, the Shaliah could not be seen in
public places for fear of being identified as a foreigner.
Therefore,
recruiting became my task. My method was simple: although, as a
child and a teenager, I almost never frequented synagogues, I would
now be present every Friday and Saturday evenings. In my opinion, it
was the best way to meet young people and talk to them about Israel.
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2 – Shimon Meller, aka
Guy, a Shaliah and Dan Knafou
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As
a matter
of fact, I had no trouble to recruit these young people of 18 years
old and over because they felt already close to Israel, and were as
many ripe fruits ready to be picked.
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3 – Meeting at the beach
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As
soon as we had formed a group of about ten people, I rented a
furnished apartment in order to organize conferences about
everything that dealt with Israel. For my own protection, I would
introduce myself under the very French pseudonym Gérard Chabasson.
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4
– Conference in Casablanca
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Evidently,
there were other youth leftist movements, such as Dror, Ihoud
Habonim, etc. It appeared that the leftist European, North-American
or Latino groups were very different from the Moroccan ones. In
Morocco, our movement was purely Zionist, and the Aliya was the
principal objective. Besides, we would not impose to our groups any
doctrine about socialism or proletariat.
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5
– Haverim’s picnic in the Aïn Shkef forest
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