Cadima

History

Cadima was established through an agreement between Resident-General Alphonse Juin of the French colonial administration in Morocco and the Jewish Agency represented by Jacques Gershoni signed on March 7, 1949. By this agreement, the French colonial administration would no longer interfere in the emigration of Jews from Morocco as it had been doing previously. Georges Bensoussan has noted that "these motives concealed other matters," citing a World Jewish Congress rapporteur that said "We consider that, among the entire Jewish population of Morocco, those living in the villages of the South are the most capable—physically and morally—of adapting to Israel ... They are accustomed to a harsh life, to hard work, to agriculture, to sobriety, etc. ... All these reasons make the aliyah of these populations an urgent and absolute necessity.” to 1953,) that included a strict medical examination and privileged healthy young people and families with a breadwinner.' Those who passed the medical inspection were sent to a transit camp outside Casablanca on the road to al-Jadida, from which they would depart for Israel by way of Marseille.' {| class="wikitable" |+ ! colspan="2" |rate of emigration through Cadima |- |1949 |2,709 |- |1950 |3,442 |- |1951 |6,677 |- |1952 |4,632 |- |1953 |2,561 |- |1954 |9,977 |- |1955 |26,555 |- |first 2 months of 1956 |5,903 |} While emigration ran smoothly under the French-administered protectorate of Morocco, Cadima sought to accelerate its activities by loosening its selection criteria in the period preceding Moroccan independence. Cadima's was shut down and its staff were expelled when the Moroccan government banned all Zionist activities within Moroccan territory on May 13, 1956. The 2,000 people who were in Cadima's transit camp, unable to…