THE AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE 30 Rue La Boetie Paris 8, France August 13, 19Sh

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1 Dr. Simon Segal American Jewish Committee 336 Fourth Avenue New lork 16, N.Y. Dear Simon: THE AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE 30 Rue La Boetie Paris 8, France August 13, 19Sh Enclosed is a short report of my major activities during the week I spent in Tunis. In brief, I believe I succeeded in developing excellent relations with the leaders of the newly established Tunisian Government and the French Residency-General. My object was to impress on them the view that developments in Tunisia are being following by democratic public opinion in America and that our hopes and expectations are that the internal autonomy of Tunisia will be established on the basis of equality for all groups, regardless of religion, race and color. I am glad to say that this view was received favorably by the head of the Tunisian Government, by the leaders of the Neo-Destour movement and by highest French officials. For the moment, no definite program could be elaborated because the negotiations on the conventions between Tunisia and France will begin soon and there is ample time to formulate proposals regarding the contents of these conventions. From our own point of view it is important to realize that the majority of the Jews of Tunisia are Tunisian nationals and will be under the jurisdiction of the Tunisian Government. The leaders of the Government assert that the constitution and the basic laws will apply to all Tunisians and therefore there is no need to ask for a special status for any minority. There are many Jewish leaders in Tunisia who feel that to propose a minority status for the Jews would be harmful and that the declarations of the Tunisian leaders that Jews and other minorities will be treated on an equal basis must for the present be taken at their face Value. Problems may arise with regard to the communal set-up, but on this point I found no agreement among the Jewish leaders I am attempting to follow up this visit with another one during the next four or five weeks in the hope that the leaders of the Jewish community will have come to an understanding on the basic requests for establishing the status of the Jewish community as such* At the same time, I shall be in contact with the French Government as to their intentions with regard to the conventions between Tunisia and France. I am now making attempts to meet M. Mendes-France to discuss with him the situation in Tunisia and the plans of the French Government with regard to Morocco. While the present situation in Tunisia is more-or-less calm and the prospects are relatively favorable, the situation in Morocco is quite alarming and much more complicated. I have received urgent calls from Jewish leaders in Morocco to visit that country. I intend to go there shortly, probably in about ten days. I expect a visit from Mr. Jacques Dahan, Secretary- General of the Council of Jewish Communities of Morocco, next Thursday. Afterwards, I shall proceed to Morocco and investigate the situation on the spot. The situation there is more complicated for the reasons that in

2 - 2 - Morocco there is no central community leadership; there is no such central movement as the Neo-Destour, which has a definite program on all major problems involving the future of the countryj and also because thus far the French Government has not indicated its intentions -with regard to the future status of Morocco. I feel, however, that it is important to be there in order to make a realistic appraisal of the situation on the spot. I shall cable you soon the exact date of my trip to Morocco. There are some aspects of the situation in Tunisia ih ich I could not insert in this report for the reason that they are too delicate to be put on paper. However, the enclosed report will present the essentials of the situation as I found it. I shall write you soon again about my conversations with the Alliance representative and also on the maneuvers of the WJC. As you will notice, I visited the American Consul-General. He indicated that if urged by the State Department, he would be glad to make inquiries with the Residency-General and the Tunisian Government with regard to the status of non-moslem and non-french minorities. I suggest that you contact the State Department with a view to instructing the Consul-General to make such inquiries. With best regards, Sincerely yours, Zachariah Shuster Enclosure

3 THE AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE 30 ROE LA BOETIE PARIS 8, FRANCE MEMORANDUM August 13, 19Sh To: Foreign Affairs Department From: Zachariah Shuster, European Office I have just returned from an active and intensive week in Tunisia. The political situation in that country which had been at a standstill as neither the French nor the Tunisians were willing to negotiate with each other, and as terrorism mounted was suddenly reactivated by the dramatic visit to Tunisia of French Premier, Mendes-France, who promised the Tunisians full internal autonomy. In this situation I felt that adequate representation was immediately needed to make both the Tunisian nationalists and the French aware of the problems and needs of the 80,000 Tunisian Jews. Second, I wished to stimulate the Jewish community leaders in Tunisia into consideration and formulation of a program for presentation to the authorities, to protect the basic rights of Jews as individuals and to guarantee the status of Jewish community institutions. Before leaving for Tunisia I consulted with M. Chouraqui of the Alliance Israelite Universelle; with Mr. Henry Levy, JDC director for Tunis, who was in Paris; and with Mr. C. Robert Moore, First Secretary Consul of the U.S. Embassy in France, in charge of North African Affairs, I also obtained!,!, through Paris contacts, letters of introduction to leaders of the Tunisian Neo-Destour party, and to the premier of Tunisia, M. Tahar Ben Aramar. I arrived in Tunis on Thursday evening, August 5th. On Friday, I met with a number of leading members of the Jewish community at a meeting organized at my request by our Tunisian correspondent, M. Albert Benattar. Present were: Maitre Bessis, former member of the Tunisian Grand Council and the "elder statesman" of Tunisian Jewry; Maitre Elie Nataf, former president of the community and head of the ORT and Alliance in Tunisia; M* Serge Moatty, former member of the Tunisian Grand Council, a leader in the Socialist party and head of the local section of the League for the Rights of Man; Doctor Leon Moatty, president of the OSE; Maitre Rene Cohen Hadria, a municipal councillor and president of the Keren Hayessod. Also present at the meeting were Miss Beatrice Vulcan, acting director of the Joint distribution Committee and M. Lazarus of Algeria, North African representative of the World Jewish Congress, who had asked to come. Because of the internal dispute between M. Nataf and M. Charles Haddad, the president of the Tunis Jewish community, the latter did not come to the meeting. I consulted with him, however, on several occasions and he came to the airport to see me off.

4 - 2 - It was decided that the Tunisian Jewish leaders would form a small committee, each member of which would be responsible for the detailed study of the recommendations to be formulated with regard to the following six areas: Political Questions of representation, election, civil and basic human rights Economic--Assurances of non-discrimination. Cultural Support for Jewish schools, language of instruction, etc. Religious Status of the Rabbinical Courts, freedom of religious exercise, etc. Social Government support for various activities now carried on by the Jewish community, with Tunisian aid. Emigration and Free Circulation, both of persons and goods in the French Union. This last was considered most important by the community, especially in connection with possible emigration to Israel, I have made available to the Tunisian Jewish leaders, through our correspondent, copies of our proposals with regard to human rights protection and Jewish community institution support for Libya, as well as the Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations and Human Rights Convention of the Council of Europe. It may, however, be necessary to return to Tunisia in the near future to help in the formulation of the specific recommendations. On Saturday, I had an hour-long meeting with the new Tunisian premier, Ben Ammar. I expressed to him the interest and sympathy with -stiich the Western world and Jewish public opinion was watching Tunisian progress towards internal autonomy, and told him that Tunisian treatment of its Jewish minority would be one criterion by which Tunisian ability to rule itself would be measured. Ben Ammar was most cordial and expressed his attitude in the following statement: "We consider our Tunisian Jewish co-citizens as our brethren. We wish them to live and prosper on the sane basis as Tunisian Moslems. Our government is not founded on a religious basis, it is a Tunisian government at the service of all the inhabitants of the country. To demonstrate this, I have not created a ministry for Moslem Affairs (Notej Past Tunisian cabinets have had such a post), but have taken charge of this department myself. I believe that co-existence is possible between Jews and Moslems. I repeat that the Jews are our brothers and that there will exist no political, social, economic or religious discrimination." I was informed by Premier Ben Ammar that he had wanted, from the outset, to include a Jew in his cabinet, as a positive expression of the equality of Jews and Moslems. It was on Jewish advice, he said, from both Paris and Tunisia that this had not yet been done; but, he said, he had kept one cabinet post free, and a Jew would be ^pointed to it shortly.

5 - 3 - Later, I was to meet with Tunisian leaders M. Mongi Slim and Dr. Sadok Mokadden. Mongi Slim is considered the leading political strategist of the Neo-Destour, is a member of the new cabinet, and one of the three Tunisian ministers Tisho will meet with the French to negotiate the new specific agreements between France and Tunisia. Dr. Mokadden is the new Minister of Justice. Both of these men stressed that: They wanted a state based on equality without aiy discriminationj The fact that the Neo-Destour had always adopted a positive attitude toward Jews as their co-citizens even during the days of the German occupation; That Habib Bourguiba, even when an exile in Egypt, had insisted to Arab League leaders that the problem of the Jews in Tunisia must be kept separate from Arab League policies vis-a-vis the state of Israel. That there were Jews in the Neo-Destour movement, who had worked and suffered equally with them, and had gone to prison with them. On Monday, I met with M. Fourriere-Ruelle, Chef-de-Cabinet of the French Resident General, General Boyer de la Tour. I explained to him our interest in the matter, and told him how Tunisian Jewry was well aware of, and grateful for, the French contribution to the development of North African Jewry. I asked him what steps he felt could be taken to assure that the Jewish minority would not be discriminated against. M. Fourriere Ruelle told me that it was the French intention to have in the system of conventions to be drawn up between France and Tunisia one general convention in which the Tunisian regime inould engage itself not to discriminate against any minority on grounds of religion or race. He also expressed great interest in the program of recommendations to be drawn up by the Jewish community of Tunisia, and asked to be made aware of these as soon as possible. Finally, he said he w uld transmit our views to French Minister for Tunisian and Moroccan Affairs Christian Fouchet, so that they might be taken into account in the negotiations to be carried on between France and Tunisia. On Tuesday, I received a surprise telephone call from the Residence, asking if I would meet with the Resident General himself. I did so. General Boyer de la Tour made certain suggestions with regard to the status of Tunisian Jews which I will forward to you in the future. The day after arriving in Tunis, I contacted the American consul, to whom I had an introduction from First Secretary Moore of the U.S. Embassy in Paris. I informed him of the purpose of my visit and asked his cooperation. While he is accredited to the French government, and can make no direct approaches to the Tunisian government, he said he would express American interest through the Resident General's office, and promised to inform me through the U.S. Embassy in Paris if he had news in Tishich he thought we would be interested. He threw out the suggestion that, perhaps, the question of emigration from Tunisia in wmch the community is so interested might be a Foreign Affairs matter, and thus the province of the French government.

6 -u- Finally, while in Tunisia, I participated at the laying of the cornerstone for a Jewish community house in that city. Tunisian Jewry was most grateful for AJC interest and intervention on their behalf, My visit to the Tunisian premier, and my participation in the community house ceremony were featured in all the leading Tunis papers. A release about my meeting with the premier was issued, also, from Paris. You will be interested, I am sure, in World Jewish Congress reaction to my visit. The WJC had sent a cable to Premier Ben Ammar, which he had released, announcing Perlzweig's visit. When Perlzweig got there, however, all the work had been done whereupon he retired to sulk. A second meeting of the Jewish community leaders had been called, where both Perlzweig and I were to be present to deal further with the question of the community program, essentially for his benefit, but he pleaded another appointment, so the meeting was called off. He told Tunisian Jewish leaders, I was informed, that an important meeting of all Jewish organizations, but without the AJC, would be held in Paris to discuss the situation of Tunisian Jews. I arranged through our Paris office to be invited to this meeting, called by the Jewish Agency.. 1! 7hen, however, it became known that the AJC would be represented, the Agency cancelled the meeting, obviously at WJC instigation.