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The Moroccan position has always been one of support for the Palestinians (Fadl Sana / AFP)
The internal and external positions differ when reading the announcement of Morocco, the day before yesterday, Thursday, on the resumption of official contacts and diplomatic relations with Israel “as soon as possible” and working to reopen the liaison offices in the two countries, in parallel with Washington’s recognition of Rabat’s sovereignty over the Sahara, months later. Resist American pressure to normalize relations with Tel Aviv. Morocco’s announcement to resume official contacts and diplomatic relations with Israel “as soon as possible”, and to work to reopen liaison offices in the two countries, raised more than a question mark about the motives and limits of the move. Moroccan. While positions differ internally and externally regarding the initiative to resume relations, Morocco appears to be holding the stick of normalization from the middle. At a time when his national interests push him to seek by all means to resolve the Sahara issue, he wishes to emphasize that the consolidation of the Moroccan Sahara will not be done at the expense of the Palestinian cause.
About two years ago, American and Israeli efforts began to persuade Morocco to request the establishment of relations with Tel Aviv on the same level as the relations it established with it in 1994, when Israel opened a liaison office in Rabat, and did so. Rabat did the same, but negotiations have intensified in recent months, since Donald Trump’s top adviser, Jared Kushner, and special envoy Avi Berkowitz negotiated directly with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita. Over the past two years, it was notable that the Israeli government pushed the American administration in the direction of continuing efforts to achieve normalization of relations with Rabat and its return to the Kingdom at least to what it was before 2000, the date the closure of the Israeli liaison office in Rabat together with the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising.
Attitudes differ internally and externally regarding the resumption of relationships.
The conversation on the normalization of relations between Morocco and Israel took center stage again in February 2019 with the visit of the United States Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, to Rabat, when the Israeli media at that time spoke about the possibility that Morocco was ready for normalization with Israel in exchange for US support for Rabat’s position on the issue. the desert. Pompeo’s visit coincided with Israeli media reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during his meeting with Pompeo in Portugal a few days before his arrival in Rabat, expressed his hope for “a real diplomatic achievement”, to improve his political opportunities before the end of the specified period for the Knesset to choose a president to form a government on December 11, 2019. However, Netanyahu’s hopes were dashed after Pompeo left Morocco without being received by the Moroccan monarch, King Mohammed VI.
And doubts about Morocco’s normalization with Israel increased after Kushner’s visit to Morocco in May 2019, as he was the architect of the American plan to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, known in the media as the “agreement of the century”. While talking about the possibility of normalization between Rabat and Tel Aviv came back immediately after the announcement of the normalization agreement between Israel and the UAE on August 13, and talking about the expected normalization with other Arab countries in the future, including Morocco. , which was referred to as a country. It is possible to conclude a normalization agreement with the Hebrew state, under pressure from Washington, which will offer Rabat in exchange the recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara by opening a consulate in El-Aaiún.
Last September, Kushner’s visit to Rabat raised a number of questions about its significance and the extent of Rabat’s ability to establish official relations with Israel in light of numerous Israeli statements about its imminent establishment, and it was notable that the reactions The popular leaders rejected it, and another by Moroccan Prime Minister Saad Eddine El Othmani, who said at a meeting of the “Justice and Development” party that Morocco rejects any normalization with the “Zionist entity” because that strengthens its position of continuing to violate the rights of the people. Palestinian, adding: “Morocco’s position as king, government and people is to defend the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and the Al-Aqsa Mosque and reject any process.” Judaize or circumvent the rights of Palestinians, Jerusalem, Arabism and Islam in the Al-Aqsa mosque and Jerusalem.
Efforts for two years to persuade Morocco to establish relations with the occupation
According to Moroccan observers, the resumption of diplomatic relations between Morocco and Israel, which are mainly related to the reestablishment of the Office for Economic and Tourism Cooperation and Liaison, after Morocco had previously reserved the “deal of the century” and denounced Israel’s settlement activities are not equal to the level of normalization that four countries have recently undertaken. Arab, considering that the statements of Moroccan officials, led by the Moroccan monarch, confirm that the position in support of the Palestinian cause is constant and does not change, and that the work of his country to consolidate the Moroccan Sahara will not be at the expense of the struggle of the Palestinian people for their legitimate rights. Geostrategic and security studies expert Cherkaoui Al-Roudani said that Rabat has always had important and distinguished relationships to create mechanisms to support regional peace and security in the Middle East region. And he considered that the step to reestablish relations would have important positive developments on the Palestinian question, considering that it would enter a pragmatic stage for the two-state solution and laying the main strategic bases to create a comprehensive peace process between Arabs and Israel and between Palestinians and Israelis.
Against this view, other analyzes see that Morocco made a mistake in “bartering” the US recognition of the Moroccan Sahara by resuming relations with Israel after the firmness it showed against US pressure in recent months. According to Ahmed Wehman, head of the Moroccan Observatory against Normalization, “the issue of the Sahara does not need the Zionists to express their Moroccanness. Morocco is in its Sahara, which is a reality with a historical, social and cultural dimension, as well as from a perspective realistic of things. ” In an interview with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, he considered that “the justification for normalization with the Sahara issue is unacceptable, and it is a submission to the blackmail that the official party has endured for years.” In the same context, the National Action Group for Palestine, with all its partisan, union, human rights, movement and student components, strongly denounced what it called the rush towards normalization, noting in a statement that it reached the “New Arab “, that” it is not possible to accept the coverage of the desert to commercialize the treacherous position of normalization. The Chancellor also tries, in vain, to vindicate and justify this. service to opponents of our territorial integrity ”.
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