For decades, Algeria has been a generous source of wealth for Morocco. Our western neighbor benefited abundantly from our resources: subsidized food products, hydrocarbons, gasoline, diesel, medicines… Sometimes this was through official trade, but often via smuggling networks.
The greatest gift, however, was undoubtedly the Maghreb–Europe Gas Pipeline, built at Algeria’s initiative. It brought Morocco billions of dollars in transit fees and, more importantly, enabled it to provide cheap energy to attract foreign investors. The plain truth is this: before Algerian gas flowed through its territory, Morocco had no significant industry to speak of. Even the most hostile analysts admit the direct cause-and-effect link between the pipeline and Morocco’s industrial rise—because without energy, there can be no industry.
And yet, the Moroccan regime repeats to anyone who will listen that the Algerian government harbors a deep hatred toward Morocco. But would any country supposedly “driven by hatred” provide its so-called enemy with the very oxygen of its industrial growth?
A One-Sided Brotherhood
The reality is that Algeria has never instilled hatred for Morocco in the minds of its children. On the contrary, our school curricula have long promoted the idea of fraternity and solidarity among the peoples of the Maghreb. This stands in stark contrast to Morocco, where educational programs are designed to instill hostility toward Algeria from an early age, accusing it of “occupying” supposedly Moroccan lands—chief among them the provinces of Tindouf and Béchar.
Maps in Moroccan schoolbooks deliberately omit the border between Figuig and Tindouf. This is no innocent oversight; it is a deliberate effort to embed in young Moroccans the belief that they must one day “recover” what they call the “Eastern Sahara.”
A Long History of Betrayals
The Moroccan monarchy’s propensity for betrayal is not new. In February 1873, The New York Times wrote that Emir Abdelkader’s defeat was not due to French military prowess, but to the treachery of Sultan Abderrahmane of Morocco, who allied with France to encircle him.
From Bocchus handing over Jugurtha to the Romans, to more recent times, the list of betrayals is long: the suspicious role of Moroccans in the May 8, 1945 massacres in Sétif, Guelma, and Kherrata; the hijacking of the FLN leaders’ plane on October 22, 1956; and Sultan Mohammed V’s opportunistic use of the Algerian revolution to pressure France for Moroccan gains… Yet none of these episodes are ever taught in Algerian schools.
The Price of Algerian Naivety
In 1845, France awarded Morocco over 100,000 km² of Algerian territory as a reward for its betrayal of Emir Abdelkader. And yet, since independence, Algeria has stubbornly kept silent about this history in the name of a fictitious “brotherhood.”
The result is that after 62 years of independence, our education system has produced generations who, with touching innocence, believe that the Moroccan people are a fraternal people—while part of that same people openly claims our land, appropriates our cultural and religious heritage, and insults our martyrs on social media.
While we nurtured these illusions, Morocco was preparing its people for an inevitable confrontation, aware of its military weakness and relying on a strategy of social infiltration. Hundreds of thousands of Moroccan nationals were encouraged to settle in Algeria, build families, and influence our social fabric in the long term.
The Urgency of National Awareness
The teaching of history in Algeria has failed in its most essential mission: to prepare citizens to understand the threats facing their country. It is time to completely revise our school curricula, to include Algeria’s true historical borders—extending to the Moulouya River in the west and the Oued Noun in the southwest—and to remind our youth that cities like Oujda and Figuig were once integral parts of Algerian territory.
This reform should be accompanied by a constitutional recognition of our historical borders, affirming our legitimate right to reclaim lands still under Moroccan occupation. As long as over 100,000 km² of our territory remain under foreign control, our independence will remain incomplete.
Conclusion
Algeria has paid the price of its naivety for far too long. The time for illusions is over. We must teach our children the full historical truth so they will be ready to defend their homeland, its borders, and its identity—against a neighbor who, behind the rhetoric of brotherhood, has never ceased to covet our land and our wealth.
By Belgacem Merbah
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