Time stops in the Maghreb

I was in Algeria in the 1960's writing about the last Jews to leave that country after it became independent. As French citizens many Algerian Jews were on their way to France. Others went to Israel; The Algerian Jews and many of their North African brothers and sisters, literally expelled by Arab nations from North Africa, found a new home in the French Republic and revitalized the Jewish community. Walking the streets of Algiers, especially in the casbah, I would see signs in Arabic and French, "Palestine is Ours." When I questioned the Jews about the signs, they answered with a smile on their faces, "Palestine is Ours,Jewish." While there are Jews in Morocco, Jews are long gone from Algeria. Ironically, many of the grandsons of those Algerian Jews I met then, are now leaving France for Israel, the Jewish state. Meanwhile as this article shows and as I wrote in "The Scattered Tribe," http://amzn.to/J3Z47T, "time stops in the Maghreb." Check out "The Scattered Tribe," (Globe Pequot Press) an ebook and wherever books are sold. Follow me on twitter @bengfrank. www.bengfrank.blogspot.com