Israeli-Moroccan Team Unearths Ancient Jewish Artifacts in Atlas Mountains

"This research is a new opportunity that sits at the intersection of changes in how [Israelis] think about the Jews of Morocco, the agreement with Israel, and the relationship between Jews and Morocco itself," Dr. Orit Ouaknine-Yekutieli, a Morocco researcher who teaches at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, told the All Israel News Staff site.

Her colleague, Professor Yuval Yekutieli, and other Moroccan experts have discovered the geniza, a repository of historically and religiously important documents and objects. "As Moroccans, we say that it is the many tzaddikim [righteous Jews] and marabouts [holy men of Islam] who are in this place who have taken care of the geniza and kept our project," says the one who is of Moroccan origin.

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Orit Ouaknine-Yekutieli also praised the Abraham Accords. However, she was keen to specify that she had benefited from close cooperation with her Moroccan colleagues long before Morocco and Israel normalized their diplomatic relations. "Our research takes advantage of this unique intersection of opportunities, but it is also the result of years of close cooperation with friends in Morocco, which was less formal until now," she added.