Amsterdam Moroccan, Jewish communities unite against intolerance

[sbs]

Amsterdam
Moroccan, Jewish communities unite against intolerance


A new organisation labelled the Jewish Moroccan Network of Amsterdam (JMNA) has been launched in the Dutch capital to fight discrimination among Muslims and Jews.

The network, gathering representatives of 30 Moroccan and Jewish associations based in the Netherlands, aims at fostering mutual tolerance and respect in Dutch society, regardless of each individual's religion or belief.

The move comes amid growing concern over the discriminating, sometimes violent, incidents that have targeted both the Jewish and Muslim communities of Amsterdam over recent years.

The Dutch press said that the network comes as an answer to an urgent need for dialogue among the two communities in order to eradicate discrimination in the form of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

But skeptical analysts are still concerned that pending issues like the Arab-Israeli conflict could hinder the efforts made by the network to bring understanding among Amsterdam's Muslims and Jews.

Incidents confronting Jews and Muslims, especially Moroccan young people, grew more frequent in Amsterdam after the beginning of the Palestinian second Intifada in Sep. 2000. The counterpart of such incidents was discrimination and animosity towards Muslims who increasingly felt treated as aliens in their adopted countries.

In 2005, a Dutch official report revealed that in some areas of Amsterdam, where 65,000 Moroccan expatriates live, 70 to 80% of residents were non-Western foreigners, with a majority of Moroccans

The report also indicated high rates of unemployment, welfare dependency, and school dropout in the areas, in addition to minimal contact with native born Dutch citizens. This, the report warned, was a sign of a failure of integration among the capital's different communities.

But the JMNA founders, who are already active in associations dedicated to social work, said the network is meant to spread a message of tolerance.

Job Cohen, the mayor of Amsterdam, is one of the initiators of the network. Since he took office in 2001, he has been conscious of the importance of dialogue in the city and actively visited ethnic groups and organised debates.

“Security comes from a stronger sense of community, from getting closer,” he told The Herald Tribune back in 2005.

The JMNA tolerance message will be spread through the members' personal contacts, government agencies, the media, and the business community. Its activities will include conferences, awareness campaigns, debates, and educational courses.

[-thetruth_]

That's good news. Being Jewish or Muslims really make no difference. Morocco has a 5000 years of Jewish History and they never had any problem with Moroccan Muslims. they both suffered by the crusaders who killed and tortured and burnt Jews and Muslims alive in the middle of the Squares all in the name of the the cross.
in Fact Moroccan King Mohammed 5 (Rahimao Allah) was the first to stand again Hitler when he was ordered by the French to get all Moroccan Jews to wear A Yellow Badge. and he stood up and declared that Moroccans are one nation and there shall never be a difference between a Jew or a Muslim.