A group of young Jewish and Muslim leaders from Morocco, Israel and the United States, has just concluded ten days of exchanges with senior officials from government, civil society and diplomacy in seven cities of Morocco and ‘Israel.
According to the organizers of this mission, it falls within the framework of the flagship Michael Sachs program for the leaders of tomorrow, organized by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and the Mimouna Association. For Dana Steiner, director of AJC Access Global, “we want the trust we have built across national, ethnic and religious boundaries to yield tangible results, but this mission, the first of its kind, should also demonstrate that people-to-people initiatives are essential to the development of ties between the United States, Morocco and Israel”.
Thus, the participants discussed a set of subjects concerning in particular the empowerment of young people or regional cooperation with, among others, the Moroccan Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication, Mehdi Bensaïd, the Moroccan Minister of education, preschool and sports, Chakib Benmoussa, and Knesset members Michael Bitton and Ya’akov Margi, co-chairs of the Israel-Morocco parliamentary friendship group. During its tour of Rabat, Casablanca and Marrakech, the group of young professionals met with senior American and Israeli diplomats, business leaders, interfaith leaders, political analysts, members of the Jewish community as well as young academics from Policy Center for the New South and Mohammed VI Polytechnic University.
In Jerusalem, Yeruham, Rahat and Tel-Aviv, participants were able to interact with senior Israeli officials, Palestinian civic leaders, Moroccan diplomats, members of the Moroccan Jewish community, entrepreneurs in high technologies but also local leaders who are dedicated to Arab-Israeli dialogue.
