Morocco balances between its new alliance with Israel and its historic support for the Palestinians | International

As the conflict flares up again in the Holy Land, Morocco is torn between consolidating its new alliance with Israel, which has given it a position of strength in the dispute over Western Sahara, and consolidating the traditional Arab support for the Palestinian cause in Jerusalem. that King Mohamed VI himself heads within the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The difficult balance in which it has moved since December 2020, when the United States recognized its sovereignty over the former Spanish colony in exchange for the normalization of relations with Israel, has now been destabilized by the rise to power of the more right-wing government in history. of the Jewish state, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu propped up by the anti-Arab far-right and the main party of settlers in the West Bank.

“We demand that the legal, religious and historical status of Al Quds (the name given to Jerusalem by the Arabs) be respected,” he claimed last week in a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as tension broke out in the Esplanade of the Mosques. After a period of ambiguity during clashes between Israelis and Palestinians in the first months of the year, Morocco has now hastened to condemn the invasion of the Israeli security forces into the Al Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam. The denunciation from Rabat of “the aggression and terror against the fallen in the holy places and in the middle of the holy month of Ramadan” raises the tone of Morocco against Israel, with whose government it maintains an unprecedented security cooperation agreement between the countries arabs

The swift diplomatic reaction came after a regular confrontation between the Justice and Development Party (PJD, the largest Moroccan Islamist force), and the powerful Foreign Minister, Naser Burita, who has the direct backing of the king, who in turn has the constitutional prerogative of directing foreign policy. Through a harsh statement released by the state news agency MAP, the Royal Palace responded with unusual rigor by accusing the PJD of a statement of “exercising blackmail over the kingdom’s foreign relations.”

This party ruled uninterruptedly between 2011 and 2021, and precisely during its tenure it endorsed the establishment of diplomatic ties with Israel. From the opposition, the Islamists most integrated into the Moroccan political system demand the rupture of relations with “the Zionist entity” in the midst of the outbreak of violence in the Middle East. The former prime minister and party leader, Abdelilá Benkiran, even dared to reply to the Royal Cabinet, in a fight with the strong men who control the springs of power in Morocco from the shadows.

The extremist policy of Netanyahu’s Palestinians, on the one hand, and his refusal to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara, such as reclaiming Rabat, also threaten to separate Morocco from the Abraham Accords. Israel maintains a diplomatic liaison office in Rabat, but the Moroccan government does not authorize it to establish an embassy without accepting, like the US, the extension of Moroccan authority over the former Spanish colony. Washington, moreover, is not considering opening a consulate in El Aaiún, as Rabat claims, as confirmed by US sources in the Moroccan capital.

The initiative for rapprochement between countries that have already seen covert cooperation with Israel in security matters was promoted by Washington in the final stage of the presidency of Republican Donald Trump. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain had also normalized relations with Israel before Morocco. These States, to which Egypt joined, staged together with the US a new alliance that emerged against Iran. A ministerial summit organized in March of last year in the Negev desert (southern Israel) laid the foundations for what was aspired to be the embryo of a NATO in the Middle East.

In search of a new international recognition, Morocco wanted the second conclave of the Abraham Accords to be held last month in Dakhla, in Western Sahara, under its control, but the meeting has been postponed without a date, despite having been Organized at a preparatory meeting held in Abu Dhabi in January.

The Moroccan press considers it canceled due to the reluctance of the allied countries to meet in a disputed territory, pending decolonization, according to the UN, and that Morocco considers its own. “Without a new Negev summit, the entire logic of the Abraham Accords is now threatened with extinction,” the weekly warned. LeDesk in a recent diplomatic analysis. The rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran with the mediation of China also calls into question the incorporation of Riyadh into the entente of Middle Eastern countries, which was sought by both the United States and Israel.

For the two-state solution

As president of the Al Quds Committee, appointed and the OIC of the Arab and Muslim character of Jerusalem, the Moroccan king has been careful to defend the two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The diplomatic communiqué issued now by Minister Burita warns that the violation of the status quo in Al Aqsa he threatens to “annual all hopes for peace in the region.”

The strategic alliance with Israel has provided Morocco with military advantages, such as the acquisition of latest generation drones and missiles and access to intelligence means that have altered the balance of forces vis-à-vis the Polisario Front and Algeria, which fully supports the independence movement. Saharan. The technological advantage of the Moroccan Army compared to the Argentine superiority in troops and weapons on the ground is beginning to be verified by the United Nations through the Minurso, the mission deployed since 1991 by the international community in the Sahara after a halt was formally broken at end of 2020.

Bilateral trade has also skyrocketed between the new allies, with an increase of 32% in 2022 in favor of Israel, which sent more than 200,000 tourists to Morocco, according to France Presse. More than 700,000 Israelis, about 8% of the population, are Jews of Moroccan origin.

Years ago there were thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators, but now only several dozen have gathered outside the Parliament building in Rabat to protest against the “crimes of the (Israeli) occupation in the Esplanade of the Mosques”, in the words of the activist Sion Assidon . Together with him, a centenary of social and political leaders have signed a manifesto to demand that the Government of Morocco, together with the PJD, reconsider the normalization of relations with Israel and side with international justice.

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