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Morocco ranks second in line for Arab countries establishing diplomatic relations with Israel as a result of US mediation.
Future US President Donald Trump describes it as a “breakthrough for peace in the Middle East,” in a post on Twitter.
“They will reopen their liaison offices in Rabat and Tel Aviv immediately with the intention of opening embassies,” Trump’s adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner told Reuters.
The United States is said to open a consulate in Western Sahara and King Mohammed VI of Morocco hails the position as historic.
“The only realistic plan”
On Twitter, Trump remembers 1777, when Morocco was the first country to recognize the independence of the United States. So it is only correct for the United States to recognize Moroccan supremacy in Western Sahara, the president writes, without going into more detail about how the situations are alike.
Western Sahara, on the Atlantic coast of West Africa, has been the subject of conflict since the 1970s. The UN recognizes the area as Western Sahara, but Morocco has long had military control over most of it. On the other hand, a heavily barricaded border and a UN-controlled buffer zone govern the Polisario independence movement.
Trump has spoken by phone with King Mohammed and is said to have expressed his support for Morocco’s cause – that the country’s “serious, credible and realistic proposals” are the only possible way forward.
“Nothing changes”
The proposal means that Western Sahara will become a Moroccan region with great autonomy. The United States wants new talks to begin with this as a starting point.
The US message is “strange” but not surprising, Polisario spokesman Oubi Bchraya told Reuters. He says his fight will continue.
– This will not change one iota of the reality of the conflict or the right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination.
The UN, which since the 1970s has judged Western Sahara to belong to the Sahrawis, announces that this position will remain valid.
Hope for Saudi Arabia
The plan is for the planes to start flying between Morocco and Israel soon.
Earlier this year, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan signed agreements to normalize their relations with Israel. It’s all part of the peace plan launched by Donald Trump, which relies heavily on former enemies uniting in opposition to the common enemy Iran.
Trump is in the final stages of his bid for the presidency, but he intends to make several moves in Middle East politics. Among other things, they want Saudi Arabia, which views Israel and Iran as archenemies, to conclude a similar deal.
And it will happen, according to Jared Kushner.
– Israel and Saudi Arabia coming closer and achieving a complete normalization (of relations) is inevitable in this situation, but the time frame is obviously something that needs to be worked out, he says.
Dissatisfied Palestinians
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the Moroccan king in a televised speech and said the deal raises more hope for peace.
From the Palestinian side, criticism is directed partly at the US plan and partly at the Arab countries that have long supported the Palestinians on the Middle East question.
In the past, Israel had a strict requirement to cede territories to a Palestinian state before recognition of the Israeli state could be considered. However, the Moroccan court says King Mohammed called Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and assured him that the country still believes in a two-state solution.
In the past, before Trump took office, Egypt and Jordan normalized relations with Israel.
Parade of soldiers from the Polisario Western Sahara independence movement in the city of Tifariti. Archive photograph from 2011. Image: Arturo Rodríguez / AP / TT
Western Sahara is an area in West Africa, along the Atlantic coast, bordering Morocco to the north and Mauritania to the southeast. The border with Morocco is approximately at the same height as the Canary Islands.
More than 650,000 inhabitants live in Western Sahara. The main city is called El-Aaiún.
The area was for a long time under Spanish control, as part of the Spanish colony of the Sahara. When Spain withdrew from the area in the mid-1970s, Morocco, which claimed it, took military control. At the same time, however, the UN declared that the people of Western Sahara had the right to self-determination there.
In Western Sahara, independence was also declared and the Polisario movement waged a guerrilla war against the Moroccan army. It lasted until 1991, when the UN sent peacekeepers in Operation Minurso and the parties agreed to a ceasefire. This has largely been the case ever since and the parties are separated by a five-kilometer-wide buffer zone guarded by the UN.
The R in Minurso stands for “referendum” – English for referendum. The idea was that mediation would lead to a referendum on what would happen to Western Sahara, but the parties have not been able to agree on the details, such as who will be allowed to vote.
In 2016, then-UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Western Sahara and called the annexation of Morocco an “occupation.” Morocco responded by firing all UN civilian personnel in the area.
In November 2020, Morocco launched a military offensive, with the explicit aim of breaking a “blockade” so that the country has an open road through the area to Mauritania. The outside world reacted with concern that the ceasefire would break out completely.
Between 100,000 and 200,000 refugees from Western Sahara live in camps in western Algeria.
Sources: Landguiden / Foreign Policy Institute, National Encyclopedia, AFP
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