Morocco's Daylight Saving Fiasco ~Government change of mind (Don't change your watch)

Within the last few hours before the end of daylight saving, someone in the government had a sudden moment of bizarrely strange logic and thought "Hey, lets put off the end of daylight saving".  

Not matter that it has been advertised for a year, and that airline schedules and ferry timetables have been adapted - what the hell, let's just extend for a month...  And this is how the news was delivered.... 

Alerte : L’horaire d’été (GMT+1) maintenu jusqu’au 27 octobre 2013
Chers abonnés, un changement de dernière minute vient d'être décidé concernant l'horaire d'été. Le retour à l’heure légale (GMT) au Maroc a été décalée d'un mois et aura donc lieu dimanche 27 octobre prochain au lieu de demain comme prévu, vient d'annoncer le ministère de la Fonction publique et de la modernisation de l’administration dans un communiqué. L’heure sera ainsi retardée de 60 minutes dimanche 27 octobre 2013 à partir de 3 heures.

Alert: Summer hours (GMT +1) maintained until 27 October 2013Dear subscribers, a last minute change has been decided for the summer schedule. The return to standard time (GMT) in Morocco was offset by a month and will take place next Sunday, October 27th instead of tomorrow as planned, announced the Ministry of Public Service and the modernization of administration in a statement. The time will be delayed by 60 minutes and Sunday, October 2013 27 from 3:00.

The last minute decree 2.13.781 also stipulated that Morocco's DST period in future years will run from 2:00 a.m. (02:00) on the last Sunday in March to 3:00 a.m. (03:00) on the last Sunday in October.

The announcement comes just a day before the scheduled switch back to standard time. Government official, Abdelâdim El Guerrouj, justified the last-minute decision citing recent findings about "the positive impact on the national economy."

The facts: 
Morocco's DST schedule now officially runs from the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in October. Since 2012, clocks were also turned back 1 hour to standard time during the month of Ramadan, so the country effectively observes DST twice a year. In 2013, the government switched back to standard time 2 days before the beginning of Ramadan. In that case too, the announcement was made just days before the switch.

It is not yet known if DST will again be suspended during Ramadan in future years.

A large number of tourism business managers have contacted The View from Fez and claim that such knee-jerk actions by a government department can cause havoc. Riad owners are suffering from confusion over pre-booked airport transfers.  The last minute making of policy on the run, smacks of amateurism, they say  ... we can only agree.

So forget changing your clocks.... We will let you know when and if they change their minds again...

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Moroccan Daylight Saving - The End is Nigh!

NEWSFLASH - Government backs down and extends DST for a month! So forget the rest of this story! See the latest update HERE

A reminder that daylight saving comes to an end on September 29th.

DST will end again at 3am (03:00) on Sunday, September 29, 2013, when clocks will be turned back one hour to standard time.

If you are travelling on that day it is important to confirm your travel details and leave yourself plenty of time!


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International-Five-Star-Diamond-Award Goes to Royal Air Maroc!

The American Academy of Hospitality Sciences is the world’s premiere organization for awarding excellence in travel, cuisine, luxury products and services. Each year, the Academy bestows its coveted International Star Diamond Award a recognition that many strive for but few achieve on superlative establishments that are deemed to be of pinnacle quality.

The American Academy of Hospitality Sciences is a business based on hotels, resorts, spas, airlines, cruise lines, automobiles, products, restaurants and chefs. The Academy started of as a restaurant rating business, founded in 1949. The current establishment is an offspring of this early group of reviewers and was officially founded in 1989. The Academy is most known for its International Star Diamond Award.

During a ceremony organized at RAM’s headquarters, the prize was granted to head of the national company Driss Benhima by AAHS president Joseph Cinque as a recognition of achievements made by RAM in the hospitality field while operating flights between Morocco and north America.

RAM being awarded the prestigious the International Five Star Diamond Award

The other side of this story comes from a regular contributor who writes:

Here’s a great Moroccan joke – "Royal Air Maroc have just won an international award for hospitality."    Sadly, it’s not a joke, although anyone who has had the dubious pleasure of flying with RAM will know that their service and hospitality really is a joke, and a pretty bad one at that.

Apparently, the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences, which proclaims itself to be ‘the world’s premiere organization for awarding excellence in travel, cuisine, luxury products and services’ bestowed this year’s ‘prestigious’ International Five Star Diamond Award to the Moroccan carrier in ‘recognition of achievements made by RAM in the hospitality field while operating flights between Morocco and north America’.
Not having used the Morocco-US flight I can’t make comments about the service on that particular route, but as there have been volumes of complaints that RAM charges up to three times the price of some airlines for the pleasure, they may well be packing their top cabin staff on those flights. My own experience with the Moroccan national carrier would probably rate a One Star Plastic Award.
It seems that each year ‘the Academy bestows its coveted International Star Diamond Award a recognition that many strive for but few achieve on superlative establishments that are deemed to be of pinnacle quality.’
I’m not sure whether I want to laugh at the joke or cry that the words ‘Royal Air Maroc’ and ‘ pinnacle quality’ actually appear is the same article.

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Casablanca Market Design Competition Winner

Dutch architects TomDavid have designed an interesting covered market for Casablanca - the design team comprised Tom Van Odijk, Alexine Sammut and David Baars

"The curved concrete forms of the design are both a tribute to modern Casablanca architecture from the 50s as an endorsement of the beauty of the female form, as a nod to the dominant male culture on the street." - The design team

At first glance the design appears to be simply mushroom shaped sunshades. However, it is far more than that. The design of the upper structure allows for the harvesting of rain, and transforming the panels into a water feature. There is no mention of alternate water sources if their is no rainfall. When rain does fall it will act as a coolant, evaporating from the concrete and so lowering the market's temperature, while also flowing into a tank that feeds standpipes within the market. Meanwhile, below street level, the market's waste is also gathered and recycled, keeping refuse and smells away from fresh goods.

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Remembering Morocco ~ the afterglow

Thanks to its climate, geography and history, Morocco has become one of the world's top tourist destinations and enjoys a reputation for safety and hospitality. Each year millions of visitors arrive to explore the country's many attractions. But six months later, what remains of their visit other than photographs and souvenirs?   Australian traveller, Linda Ivezic, travelled around Morocco as a solo woman traveller and now reports back on the legacy of her Moroccan experience

Thanks to Morocco being easily affordable on my Australian wage, I was lucky to spend most of spring there earlier this year. I travelled on local transport, trains, buses and the wonderful Grande Taxis. I stayed in hostels when whenever possible, and bottom to mid-range hotels and riads.

I saw a lot of the country, (but not all of it) and became accustomed to so many things Moroccan. I've returned to my usual life in Maleny, a small country town in SE Queensland but often have thoughts on what I loved about Morocco.

Terrains varied: desert, mountains, forests, coasts but wherever I was, it was spring. The air smelled of orange blossom wherever I went. The food-growing oases in the desert country to the east; cities, towns and villages along the coast and inland; villages in the mountains, they all entranced me with the smell of orange blossom. I made sure I had at least one squeezed-on-the-spot orange juice every day, always a big glass for around $1.20AUD. The simplest of deserts was always on the menu: slices of oranges with cumin sprinkled over them.....delicious!

Every region I visited bloomed with spring flowers. There were poppies, daisies, fruit trees in blossom and all sorts of flowers I'll never identify.

I miss the muddy black coffee in the men-only cafes. As a Western woman I was treated with courtesy even though I was essentially entering male domains. I loved sitting street-side watching the ever-enthralling Moroccan street life, sipping my short black with 3 sugars or the wonderful Moroccan mint tea. I do miss their mint tea. I've grown a great batch of mint, bought gunpowder tea and sugar cubes. Next is to try to make the tea. I wish I'd bought a Moroccan teapot. Mint tea has to be cooked in the teapot over a flame.

I thought I'd miss Morocco's life in the streets. I would watch the crowds in the evenings, families, couples, young men and young women, they all spent their evenings walking their town squares, esplanades, parks, lookouts and shops meeting people they knew, stopping for a chat, children playing around them. Life is very public, the average family has little or no garden, they live several generations together, living rooms become bedrooms at night, they need to get out into the streets. We live our self-contained lives in our four-bedroom house on our plot of land, retreating to our privacy at the end of our busy days. We do lose out, I'm sure.

I'm lucky though, I've realised that life in a small town has similarities to the close street socialising of Morocco, the difference being that most of my meeting of people in the street is during the day. Certainly across the suburbs in Australia there's none of that public socialising that fascinated me everywhere in Morocco.

My view from a cafe in Marrakech

A whirling dervish spins his spiritual connection to God at the Sufi Festival in Fez, April 2013

My favourite city was Fez. I stayed there twice, for 11 days then 3 more a few weeks later. I spent my time in Fez in awe of its age and history, 1,200 years of Berber and Arab life. UNESCO World heritage listed, “the Medina of Fez is considered as one of the most extensive and best conserved historic towns of the Arab-Muslim world.” (UNESCO website). Each and every excursion into the streets of Fez is an adventure for the senses including the navigational senses! Getting lost in streets as wide as yourself is mandatory. Standing aside for mules laden with 150 kgs of gas bottles, or 100 goat skins; walking in amongst crowds of locals going about their lives in ways many generations of their forebears have done but with a mobile phone in hand; watching metal workers beating copper and brass into objects we see as beauty and ornament but objects of everyday use to Moroccans. Leather, pottery and ceramics craftsmen, carpet and fabric weavers are all working at their ancient skills following their family's footsteps.

I miss the convenience and practicality of Morocco's Grande Taxis. They walk all over our concept of “ride sharing”. They're all old model Mercedes Benz cars that don't leave for your destination until there are six passengers, two in the single passenger seat at the front and four crammed across the back. They can take you places buses and trains don't go, or just get you there more cheaply with more frequent departures. I remember a 20km trip costing $1.20AUD. I loved the challenge of finding the right Grande Taxi for my destination and, being at such close quarters, many people enjoyed a chat.

Off the beaten track in a Grande Taxi

I used this Grande Taxi several times both sharing and hiring for myself, to get to the starting points for several walks in the Rif Mountains, driven by the ever-courteous Mohammed.

I miss hearing Morocco's multi-lingualism around me. We are so spoilt and lazy in our mono-lingual culture. Moroccans have 2nd, 3rd and 4th languages. Arabic, Berber, French and Spanish are the main ones I heard around me. My rusty 40 year old school French suddenly became relevant.

Morocco is a land of colour, beauty, history and a culture very different from that of Australia. I saw how Islam is an integral part of the people's lives without the extremism of other Muslim nations. I had no problems travelling as woman alone. If you're looking for an affordable travel destination with a variety of possible experiences, I highly recommend Morocco.


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Hamria "Thursday" Souk - A Trip to the Country

Being a Thursday, The View from Fez team went in search of the nearest country souk (market) near Fez. The village souks are held on specific days each week and are usually named for the day on which they are held. The Hamria Thursday souk was only 40 minutes drive from Fez and a great place to spend the morning

The scenery was an amazing mix of fertile plains and barren hills

Thankfully, we eventually found a sign indicating the way to Hamria

Climbing up to the village gave us views of the fertile valley below

The farmyard architecture comprised low adobe courtyards

Eventually Hamria came into view

The town entrance

Hundreds of butterflies were swarming the town - at times looking like snow!

The souk was a hive of activity

The meat was great quality, cheap and very fresh 

It is hard to imagine what was NOT on sale! 

A "swak" (teeth cleaning bark) seller with a customer 

Want a repair? No problem. We saw a dentist pulling teeth. He declined to be photographed! 

Finally time to sit and have a glass of mint tea and some kefta

And, on the way home, a different view of Fez

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Cultural Gathering in Fez from Friday

Curator Samten de Wet, organiser and artist Anne Graaff and artist Cheryl Traub Adler

Ever since 2005 when Anne Graaff and her twin sister Tessa bought their house in the Fez Medina, they have visualised opening it as a base for art workshops and events. This week that dream will take shape in the form of GIF, or the Gathering in Fez.

The Graaff sisters have both had extensive experience in running arts centres in South Africa. They have invited around 20 artists, authors, poets, academics and spiritual seekers to Fez for the first in what is hoped to be a regular and stimulating cultural gathering. All will be contributing as teachers and presenters.

Members of the public are invited to join in many of the events. These include the The Blue Box art workshops, a writing workshop with writer and actor Lisa Fugard, a poetry evening led by Shelia Fugard, a guitar concert accompanied by visual effects by Mike Dickman and an exhibition by Anne Graaff. Details are in the program below. 

Curator Samten de Wet says that the basis of GIF is about "cross-cultural dialogue". "I was ordained as a Buddhist monk, I began as a Christian and also have some Jewish in my background, and I'm involved in Sufi mysticism, so I live and breathe cross-cultural dialogue."

Based in Capetown, de Wet is the director of the Lux Lapis Project, which aims to "set the tone for peace through culture". He will be giving a series of talks and visual presentations titled The Space of the Imagination, which will touch on topics such as Art and Mythology; The Artist as Initiate; The "Imaginal" World; Creativity and Imagination. He will also be giving a talk on the work of the late American artist Cy Twombly. 

Some of the highlights: 

Writing workshop and poetry event

Writer and actor Lisa Fugard

Writing workshop: Your Truth in Fiction

This workshop will be given by writer and actor Lisa Fugard at the ALIF Riad. She describes it as exploring the "alchemical process of taking the ‘stuff’ of one’s life and fictionalising it."

"How far does one go with the act of “making it up”, she asks. "Play with gender, with age, with setting - all the while exploring the emotional dynamic at the heart of the your story.

“Write because it’s a secret passageway, a door that swings open to reveal unexplored worlds. It’s a companion and a balm. It will challenge you and provoke you in all the right ways. There is an essential, private relationship between you and the world that is revealed when you sit down with a blank page.”

Born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Lisa Fugard is the only child of playwright Athol Fugard and novelist and poet Sheila Meiring Fugard. She moved to New York City in 1980 to pursue an acting career, and has appeared on stage and screen in numerous roles, including as Isabel Dyson in the original production of her father's My Children! My Africa! She now lives in Southern California with her family.

Since 1992, she has written many short stories for literary magazines, and articles for the New York Times travel section. In January 2006, she wrote the novel Skinner's Drift, about turmoil on a South African farm.

When: Wednesday September 25 from 10 am to 1 pm. 
Where: ALIF Riad
What to bring: pen and paper or a laptop
Cost: Free

Tea, poetry and music 

Novelist and poet Shelia Fugard will be reading some of her poems at this event, held at the Ruined Garden restaurant. Local and visiting poets and musicians are invited to participate. Poets may read up to five of their poems.

Born in Birmingham, England in 1932, Sheila Meiring moved with her parents to South Africa when she was eight years old. She went to the University of Cape Town, where she wrote short stories and studied theatre.

She met playwright Athol Fugard when she acted in one of his plays and they were married in 1956.

In 1972, Sheila Fugard published her first novel, The Castaways, which won the Olive Schreiner Prize. Subsequently, she published other novels including Rite of Passage, in 1976, and A Revolutionary Woman, in 1983.

Fugard has also published collected poems, including Threshold, in 1975, and Mystic Things, in 1981.

When: Wednesday September 25 from 4 - 6 pm.
Where: Ruined Garden restaurant
Cost: by donation
Please advise organiser Anne Graaff (annegraaff@gmail.com) if you wish to participate in this event.

Art workshops and talks

These workshops are led by the Art Box collective, a group of art teachers and experts, including Alex Downes, Cheryl Traub Adler, Anne Graaff and Samten de Wet.

The techniques of collage 

This is a practical workshop run by Anne Graaff. Bring old magazines for cutting up and assemblage.
"Using my tarot pack as an example, I will teach people how to do it," she says.

When: Monday September 23 from 10 am - 12noon. 
Where: ALIF Riad
What: Bring magazines
Cost: Free

Creating Pinterest boards

Illustrated talk about how to create Pinterest boards by Samten de Wet on the theme Textures of Fez.

When: Monday September 23 from 12 - 12.30 pm
Where: ALIF Riad
What: bring cameras
Cost: Free

The Artist's Journal

Moroccan women by Eugene Delacroix

Explore the tradition of keeping an artist's journal and learn some useful art techniques. Before the days of photography, travellers used their sketchbooks as a visual way of remembering. Artists who made sketches and watercolours of their travels in Morocco included Delacroix and second world war artist Cecil Michaelis.

When: Tues Sept 24 from 10am -12pm
Where: ALIF Riad
What: Bring pencils and watercolour paints, if you have them. 

Music

Based in Paris, guitarist Mike Dickman says, "I've studied Indian and Japanese music quite deeply, and know a little about Chinese and Arabic music as well. Because I happen to be a Tibetan Buddhist, I've spent quite a lot of time with its liturgical music.
"I've played many different styles, ranging through rock, blue-grass and other country styles, blues, folk blues, English and Celtic music, what passed, in the 60s, for folk music, and many other, more eclectic styles.
"I'm not looking to stun or impress or excite people with my music. What I try to do is to bring them to feel the innate quiet at the roots of their souls."

This concert will be accompanied by visual imagery.

When: Thursday September 26 from 7.30 - 9 pm
Where: ALIF Riad
Cost: Free

Exhibition

The Major Arcana Cards of The Tarot du Paris

Artist Anne Graaff has created her own unique take on tarot cards using collage.

When: Monday 23 September 4 - 5.30 pm
Where: Jardin des Biehn gallery and Fez Cafe
Cost: Free

GIF Program

Please note: All events except those at Dar Hajj are open to the public. If you wish to attend specific events at Dar Hajj, please contact Anne Graaff, details below, as numbers are strictly limited.


Venues

Dar Hajj, 7 Sidi Nali, Old Medina, Fez. 05 35 74 06 01
ALIF Riad, 6 Derb Drissi, Fez. 0535624850
Ruined Garden, 2 mins downhill from Jardin des Biehn. 06 49 19 14 10
Jardin des Biehn, 13 Akbat Sbaa Douh, Fez Medina. 05 35 63 50 31
Cafe Clock, 7 Derb el Magana, Talaa Kbira, (opp. the Bouanania). 05 35 63 78 55

Further event info

Anne Graaf on 06 48 08 23 81 or annegraaf@gmail.com

Friday 20 September

4pm - 5pm. Tea at Dar Hajj

5 - 5.30pm. Introduction, Anne Graaff and Tessa Graaff of The Blue Box Project

5.30pm - 7pm. Opening lecture - The Space of the Imagination- by Samten de Wet at Dar Hajj

8pm. Welcome drinks and Dinner at Dar Hajj.

Saturday 21 September

4pm - 5pm. Tea at Cafe Clock

5pm - 5.30pm. Talk by Samten de Wet at Cafe Clock. First of the series on The Space of The Imagination.

6pm - 6 30pm. Talk by Mike Dickman at Cafe Clock on The Alchemist by Michael Maier, an introduction to the spiritual and operative approaches to alchemy. 

7 - 7.30 pm Talk by Vera Dickman at Cafe Clock on Michaux, Bachelard and the Alchemical Phoenix of Transformation.

8pm. Dinner at Lune et Soleil.

Short visual presentation by Samten de Wet: The Space of the Imagination.

Sunday 22 September

4pm -5pm. Tea at Cafe Clock

3. 30pm. Talk by Samten de Wet at Cafe Clock - next in the series on The Space of the Imagination.

4 - 4.30pm Talk by Giaco Angelini at Cafe Clock on What I look for in a Photograph.

5 - 5.30pm. Talk by Tessa Graaff at Cafe Clock on Matagi:Venus in India: some readings and discussion. Mataji is the female counterpart of Babaji, a Mahavatar of northern India and part of the 18 Siddha Kriya Yoga tradition. The readings will focus on her views on the female archetypes of the Madona, the Goddess and the Whore.

8 pm. Dinner at Dar Hajj

A short after-dinner visual presentation by Samten de Wet - The Space of the Imagination. 


Monday 23 September

10 am - 12pm. The Blue Box art workshop at ALIF Riad on Techniques of Collage. A practical workshop. Bring some old magazines.

12 - 12.30pm The Blue Box art workshop: Illustrated talk by Samten de Wet on creating Pinterest boards on the them The Textures of Fez. ALIF Riad. Bring cameras.

4pm-5.30 pm Tea and exhibition opening at Jardin des Biehn gallery. The Major Arcana Cards of The Tarot du Paris by artist, Anne Graaff. Exhibition opened by Mike Dickman.

5.30pm - 7pm. Lecture by Gary Lee at Fez Cafe, Jardin des Biehn on The Tarot Archetypes as a Path to Individuation. The talk will be on the Major Arcana of the Visconti-Sforza deck which is the oldest complete Tarot pack. It deals strictly with Kabbalistic symbols which utilize what Jung referred to as transformational archetypes. 

8pm. Dinner at Dar Hajj

A short after-dinner visual presentation at Dar Hajj by Samten de Wet on The Space of the Imagination.


Tuesday 24 September

10am -12pm. The Blue Box art workshop - The Artist's Journal. Explore the tradition of keeping an artist's journal and learn some useful art techniques. A practical workshop. Bring pencils and watercolour paints, if you have them. At ALIF Riad.

3pm - 4pm. Lecture by Samten de Wet at ALIF Riad on The Art of American Painter, Cy Twombly.

4.30 pm- 6pm Tea at Cafe Clock

6pm - 6.30pm. Cafe Clock. Visual presentation by Stephen Emslie on Experiental Theatre. A tour through a new, imaginative and exciting trend that is rapidly becoming a buzzing and popular London scene - an art-form that combines theatre-in-the-round, cinema, and the allure of intrigue.

7pm - 7.30pm. Cafe Clock. Visual presentation by Anne Graaff on Beauty and the Beast and the Theatre of Life: Contemporary Innovative Design. A meander around the recent Maison-Objet Design Week in Paris, with some reflections about contemporary thinking. A tour through thoughts that are curious, creative, kitch, camp, cavalier, minimal, sumptuous, savvy or simply silly, embedded in object design. Where does it lead?

8pm. Drinks, dinner and guitar at Dar Hajj

Short visual presentation by Samtem de Wet on The Space of The Imagination.

Wednesday 25 September

10 am - 1pm. Writing Workshop at ALIF Riad by Lisa Fugard on Your Truth in Fiction. 

2.30pm -3.30pm Talk by Samten de Wet at Dar Hajj. Next in the series on The Space of the Imagination. 

4pm - 6pm. Tea, music and Poetry in the Ruined Garden. All poets and musicians welcome. Bring some poems/songs. Event led by Sheila Fugard.

8 pm. Dinner at Dar Hajj, followed by a talk with visuals by Clare Burgess, lecturer in landscape architecture at the University of Cape Town on Gardens of The Imagination.

Thursday 26 September

10am. Meet at Batha to take a taxi to the American Language Centre (ALIF and ALC in Fes) in the Fes Ville Nouvelle. We will visit their bookshop and have lunch in their garden.

2.30pm - 3.30 pm. Photography talk and walkabout in the medina with Giacomo Angelini. Starting at Dar Hajj.

4pm- 5pm. Tea at Dar Hajj.

5pm - 6 pm Talk by Samten de Wet, next in the series on The Space of the Imagination.
.
7.30 - 9 pm. Guitar concert at ALIF Riad by Mike Dickman.


Friday 27 September

10am - 12pm. Dar Hajj. The Blue Box art workshop - Surprise Box - an art intervention.

3pm-4pm. Dar Hajj. Talk by Mike Dickman on Tibetan Visualisation Practices: the purpose behind the visualisations used in Tibetan Buddhism.

4.30pm - 6pm. Tea at Dar Hajj

6pm - 7pm. Dar Hajj Concluding talk by Samten de Wet on The Space of The Imagination.

7.30pm. Drinks and dinner at the Ruined Garden.

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Amazigh Culture Leaps On To Facebook

A few months ago Microsoft Windows 8 announced that it had adapted its systems to include the Tamazight language. Now social media giant Facebook has followed with Tamazight added to a list of new languages available to users

It's official, the Tamazight language is now in use on the social network Facebook. The U.S. giant has decided to adopt the Tifinagh alphabet, allowing Tamazight language status for use on Facebook.

"Thank you all for asking to add your language on Facebook.Tamazight and the Breton and many other languages, have been on our list for some time. We have evaluated, but have added language at various intervals, for several reasons (there are many languages ​​around the world and we just need time to deploy). Thank you for your understanding and use of Facebook" ~ Facebook press release

Across North Africa the Amazigh (Berber) population runs into the millions and this move by Facebook has been applauded by advocacy groups for the Berber language as they continue their fight for the language to be recognised by the institutions of the countries in which they live.  

The largest Amazigh community is in Morocco where they have experienced recent gains in media and social advocacy on behalf of the various Amazigh languages. 

Facebook is reported to have said that the move to include Tamazight was in response to requests from Amazigh groups from around the world.

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Security Problems in Israel - Homeland Shoot Transfered to Morocco

The TV series Homeland is running into real life security issues in Israel. Because of the security situation, the award winning show is to move its locations from Israel to Morocco. 

The present problem has been caused by the possibility of retaliatory strikes against Israel if the USA attacks Syria. The show's American producers, concerned over situation in Syria, contacted their Israeli counterparts last Sunday to inform them of decision.  Scenes from series one and two were shot in Israel, but were criticised as not looking like Beirut!

A scene from “Homeland” showing Claire Danes as a CIA agent walking around in
 “Beirut,” which was shot in Tel Aviv, as some Hebrew artefacts can be seen on the right side of the photo
.

According to Israeli media, the American producers of the show contacted their Israeli counterparts on Sunday to notify them of the decision. Estimates say that Israeli production companies are set to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars over the location change.

"Homeland" was adapted from the Israeli drama "Hatufim" ("Prisoners of War"). Its first season hit an all-time high for a new drama series on Showtime, the U.S. cable channel which has broadcasting rights for the show.

Other shows such as Game of Thrones have used Moroccan locations for their previous series.

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Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb Release Provocative Video

The Spanish government recently announced that their police had arrested two men for their alleged membership in the terrorist group Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). One of the two suspects was Moroccan arrested in Murcia in the southeast of the country. He had contacts with leaders of AQIM in Mali and was responsible for recruiting militants in Spain. The second, an Algerian, was arrested in the region of Zaragoza. Their arrests came as the result of a collaboration between the Spanish police, Moroccan and French. Now AQIM have retaliated with the release of a video

According to reports in the local press and on the Magharebia website, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) launched a 41-minute provocative video about Morocco. Styled as a "documentary", the internet video mocks the domestic and foreign policy of the country and its efforts to fight terrorism. It also shows an image of the Moroccan monarch engulfed in flames.

AQIM emir Abdelmalek Droukdel launched a tirade against Morocco

The video includes footage of al-Qaeda militants training in the forests and mountains of Algeria under the personal supervision of Abdelmalek Droukdel (aka Abou Moussaab Abdelouadoud).

The tape ends with a call by Droukdel for young people to join the ranks of jihadists.

According to Mohamed Darif, a Moroccan researcher specialising in Islamic groups, the new video reveals the real "dilemma faced by the organisation when targeting Morocco". "AQIM has achieved some success in attracting Moroccans and sending them to hotbeds of tension and battlefronts, particularly Syria and Iraq, but they did not succeed in general at targeting Morocco and compromising its institutions," he told Magharebia.

"This failure has exacerbated the group's anger and rage," he added.

What provokes al-Qaeda is the exception posed by Morocco, Darif explained.

The world has seen al-Qaeda operations "expand into Libya and along the Algerian-Tunisian borders, as well as in Sinai, Egypt", he said. "Morocco is today the only country that still eludes al-Qaeda and this provokes its anger."

"Consequently, issuing this tape is an expression of frustration in the face of the successes achieved by Moroccan security authorities in dismantling terrorist cells and preventing them from carrying out sabotage operations," he said.

Indeed, the new tape comes not long after yet another Morocco AQIM cell was dismantled.

"There is a strong desire in AQIM to carry out a quality operation in Morocco, in order to shake its self-confidence and steadfastness, and put an end to its exclusive condition in the region", political analyst Driss Kassouri confirmed.

Ksouri noted that the leader of the dismantled cell was in direct contact with the senior leadership of the organisation in Tizi Ouzou, Algeria, and was planning a retaliatory strike at Guelmim airport, among other targets.

Mohamed Benhammou, president of the African Federation of Strategic Studies, shared that view.

"Al-Qaeda seeks an operation in Morocco because of its symbolism and the fact that such an operation, if completed, would be considered a resounding victory, especially in the current period," Benhammou said.

This is a crucial time in terms of restructuring these groups, he said, after the blows they received during the military intervention in Mali. "They witnessed disintegration and dispersion, as well as a flight of fighters," he added.

The airing of the tape coincided with the publication by al-Qaeda central of an audio recording by Ayman al-Zawahiri, which also included incitement against Morocco.

Amazigh human rights activist Boubaker Ounghir downplayed the impact of these threats but said they required due diligence and caution, "especially since al-Qaeda in the region is now in possession of a variety of weapons after the collapse of the Kadhafi regime in Libya and the chaos that followed".

"In addition, there is also a factor of competition and a race between the various terrorist groups, especially AQIM and Mokhtar Belmokhtar new group, Mourabitounes in order to destabilise Morocco and end its exclusive condition," Ounghir said.

Cherkaoui Roudani, a member of parliament and an expert on strategic issues said, "Al-Qaeda seeks to transform the North African region into a new Afghanistan, the so-called green fascist state which is totally incompatible with what Morocco represents in terms of its successful building of democracy. This model has become an obstacle to the ambitions of al-Qaeda."

He added, "They will make every effort to wage war on the borders with Morocco, as they did with Tunisia in Jebel Chaambi."

"They will do their utmost to conduct terrorist operations inside Morocco," he warned. "We have to be vigilant and to be on the lookout in order to thwart all their attempts and protect our societal democratic project."

The Origins of AQIM

The Washington based Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) traces the origins of AQIM back to the Soviet-Afghan war:

Most of AQIM’s major leaders are believed to have trained in Afghanistan during the 1979-1989 war against the Soviets as part of a group of North African volunteers known as “Afghan Arabs” that returned to the region and radicalized Islamist movements in the years that followed. The group is divided into “katibas” or brigades, which are clustered into different and often independent cells.

The group’s top leader, or emir, since 2004 has been  Abdelmalek Droukdel, also known as Abou Mossab Abdelwadoud, a trained engineer and explosives expert who has fought in Afghanistan and has roots with the GIA in Algeria. It is under Droukdel’s leadership that AQIM declared France as its main target. One of the “most violent and radical” AQIM leaders is Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, according to counterterrorism experts. 

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