Forbidden love' - But while some Jews in Morocco look forward to visiting Israel, others are eager to make the trip in return. While Morocco has allowed in Israeli travellers for several years, the deal will now aid travel with direct flights For Avraham Avizemer, a Jewish man born in Casablanca but now living in the Israeli coastal town of Caesarea, it was a historic announcement. "It is a great day," he said, saying Jews born in Morocco - and their children and grandchildren - can "return to the land where our ancestors lived for over 2,000 years." Avizemer, who left Casablanca as a toddler and is now in his 70s, has visited Morocco over 400 times in recent years, importing Moroccan products to Israel, as well as organising tourist trips and writing books on Moroccan Jews. As many as 70,000 Jews of Moroccan origin, many living in Israel, visit Morocco each year, either for tourism, or pilgrimage for religious festivals. "Relations between Morocco and Israel took place behind the scenes," said Fanny Mergui, a Moroccan Jew who was a Zionist youth leader in the 1960s. "It was a kind of forbidden love, formalised today," said Mergui, who describes herself as a Palestinian activist.
AFP