{"id":14731,"date":"2014-10-04T11:37:49","date_gmt":"2014-10-04T11:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/algerienetwork.com\/usa\/?p=908"},"modified":"2014-10-04T11:37:49","modified_gmt":"2014-10-04T11:37:49","slug":"algerias-kabylie-craves-friendship-with-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/algerienetwork.com\/international\/algerias-kabylie-craves-friendship-with-israel\/","title":{"rendered":"Algeria’s Kabylie craves friendship with Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Ferhat Mehenni, Israel is an ideal partner and friend for Kabylie, a geographic sliver of Algeria\u2019s northern coast whose people wish to secede from the large North African nation\u2019s control.

\u201cWe are in a hostile environment,\u201d Mehenni told\u00a0<\/span>The Jerusalem Post<\/span>\u00a0during an interview on Thursday. \u201cBoth countries share kind of the same path, but Israel already exists \u2013 that\u2019s the only difference.\u201d<\/span>

Mehenni founded the Movement for the Autonomy of Kabylie and has served as president of the Provisional Government of Kabylie from exile in France since Algeria\u2019s \u201cBlack Spring\u201d period in 2001, during which the Kabylian people challenged the Algerian government\u2019s ban on their culture and language.<\/span>

Kabylie, located on the northern Mediterranean coast of Algeria, remained its own country throughout the Middle Ages and the Ottoman days, only to become part of Algeria proper during the French colonization period in the mid- 19th century. The region subsequently suffered many battle scars during the Algerian War of Independence, which occurred from 1954 through 1962.<\/span>

\u201cKabylie never accepted losing its independence and this is what led the entire battle for the independence of Algeria,\u201d Mehenni said.<\/span>

The people of Kabylie, who Mehenni said fill Algeria\u2019s universities, were never from Arab or Muslim backgrounds and are from their own Berber culture and language, however.<\/span>

As such, he explained, \u201cthe Kabylians have always had a bit of sympathy for Israel.\u201d<\/span>

\u201cDuring the War of 1967, Kabylie applauded the defeat of the Arabs,\u201d Mehenni added.<\/span>

The Kabylians have tried repeatedly to assert their rights within the jurisdiction of the Algerian government, but have made little progress, according to Mehenni.<\/span>

\u201cLacking means for an armed resistance, our generation has opted for political combat, and we produced the \u2018Berber Spring\u2019 in 1980,\u201d he said. \u201cThis was a cultural, linguistic initially, because we saw that there was an \u2018Arabist\u2019 steamroller on the children in our schools, and since we began a long pacifist walk toward our existence.\u201d<\/span>

Believing that a democratic government might resolve their problem, the Kabylians were hopeful when a multiparty electoral system fell in place, but the powers of the Islamic regime still held stronger, according to Mehenni.<\/span>

In 1994, Kabylians took part in an academic boycott stretching from kindergarten to university demanding that their language be recognized, an operation that worked but still did not land Kabylie official administrative recognition, he explained.<\/span>

\u201cKabylie has invested in its identity quest, but never was a stronghold for Islam,\u201d Mehenni said. \u201cIn 1990, while in Algeria, we observed an Islamist tidal wave; in Kabylie, there hasn\u2019t been a single Islamist official.\u201d<\/span>

For quite some time, Kabylie remained the \u201cSwitzerland of Algeria,\u201d but in 1997 the Algerian army came to an accord with the Islamists and attacks moved to Kabylie, inflicting the region with disruption and chaos, Mehenni explained.<\/span>

Algeria, meanwhile, does not invest a single dinar in Kabylian development, and even discourages businesses from locating in Kabylie, where the country advocates \u201cArabization,\u201d he said.<\/span>

Since Abdelaziz Bouteflika came to power in Algeria in 1999, Kabylie has boycotted legislative and presidential elections.<\/span>

While Kabylians have remained the backbone of the Algerian administration, they have been removed from all senior positions, and in the army, they are forced to retire before they can gain access to positions of responsibility, Mehenni asserted.<\/span>

Kabylian women do not wear veils, and Kabylians living in France did not participate in the campaign for legalizing veils in schools, according to Mehenni.<\/span>

Rather, he said, Kabylians have become quickly enamored by France\u2019s values, including secularism and freedom.<\/span>

Kabylie has always been engaged in the cause of Algeria, but has always been rejected by the state and now only strives for independence precisely due to this rejection, Mehenni stressed.<\/span>

Calling the current Algerian country a \u201crogue state,\u201d Mehenni said the country remains a haven for Islamic terrorism and is in danger of becoming a second \u201cIran\u201d \u2013 a nation with which it shares strong relations since 1995.<\/span>

Algeria desires a nuclear bomb for itself, and Bouteflika has constructed twice as many mosques during his terms as president than have been built during all of Algeria\u2019s history, he continued. While most countries agree that Kabylie\u2019s situation is one of injustice, many shy away from its defense because of Algeria\u2019s vast oil and gas wealth, according to Mehenni.<\/span>

\u201cThe environment of Israel is more favorable to Kabylie,\u201d he said, stressing the fact that all of the Arab governments in the region favor Algeria and do not side with the Kabylian people. \u201cWe definitely hope that the ostracism of the Kabilye government will be repealed by most of the Arab countries in the region.\u201d<\/span>

Prior to his visit to Israel \u2013 his first ever \u2013 Mehenni said he was received by the US State Department, the Greek senate and the European Parliament.<\/span>

Mehenni\u2019s ministers are also all in exile, scattered around what he calls the \u201cdiaspora\u201d \u2013 Canada, the UK, Germany and Italy.<\/span>

\u201cBy building links, there is recognition,\u201d he said.<\/span>

During his stay in Israel, Mehenni met with MK Danny Danon (Likud), a representative from the Foreign Ministry\u2019s North African division and Energy and Water Minister Uzi Landau, among others. He described Landau as \u201cvery attentive\u201d to what he and international relations minister, Lyazid Abid, presented him.<\/span>

Kabylie is a region with many mountains and huge amounts of water, so Mehenni said it was a great opportunity to meet with a government minister that manages a complex water system.<\/span>

Landau could not be reached for comment before press time on Sunday.<\/span>

Mehenni said that he and his people would continue to pursue a \u201cdefiance to the Algerian law, which wants Israel to be boycotted,\u201d and stressed that he hopes \u201cour relations can be intensified.\u201d<\/span>

While traveling in Israel, Mehenni said he and Abid found a realization of their dream, allowing them to leave with the conviction that Israel should adopt Kabylie as a sister.<\/span>

\u201cFreedom for Kabylie, eternity for Israel,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Ferhat Mehenni, Israel is an ideal partner and friend for Kabylie, a geographic sliver of Algeria\u2019s northern coast whose people wish to secede from the large North African nation\u2019s control.\u201cWe are in a hostile environment,\u201d Mehenni told\u00a0The Jerusalem Post\u00a0during an interview on Thursday. \u201cBoth countries share kind of the same path, but Israel already […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":909,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[42,49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14731","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-diaspora","8":"category-news-diaspora"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/algerienetwork.com\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/algerienetwork.com\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/algerienetwork.com\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/algerienetwork.com\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/algerienetwork.com\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/algerienetwork.com\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/algerienetwork.com\/international\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/algerienetwork.com\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/algerienetwork.com\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/algerienetwork.com\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}