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On Thursday, November 12, Israel and Morocco agreed to normalize their relations in a deal reached with the help of the United States, making the Kingdom the fourth Arab country to put aside hostility with Israel in the past four months.
Morocco joins the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan in starting to strike deals with Israel in an effort led in part by US-led efforts to form a united front against Iran and limit the Tehran’s influence in the region. As part of the deal, US President Donald Trump agreed to recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara, as part of a shift to decades-old US policy. Western Sahara has witnessed a decades-long conflict between Morocco and the Polisario Front, a separatist movement seeking to establish an independent state in the region and enjoying the support of Algeria.
US President-elect Joe Biden, who takes office on January 20, will be faced with the dilemma of deciding whether or not to accept his country’s agreement on Western Sahara, which no other Western country has reached. A spokesperson for Biden declined to comment. While Biden will likely turn the direction of US foreign policy away from the path Trump took under the “America First” slogan, he has indicated that he will continue to support what Trump has described as the Abraham between Israel and Arab and Muslim countries.
The White House said the deal was struck by Trump in a phone call Thursday with King Mohammed VI of Morocco. Trump wrote in a tweet: “Another historic breakthrough today! The two great and friendly countries of Israel and the Kingdom of Morocco have agreed to establish full diplomatic relations. A huge step forward for peace in the Middle East ! ” A statement released by the Moroccan Royal Court said King Mohammed VI told Trump his country intended to facilitate direct flights for Israeli tourists to and from Morocco.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement: “It will be a very warm peace. On the Day of Enlightenment, the light of peace has not seen such brightness until today in the Middle East,” referring at the Jewish Festival of Lights which began Thursday evening. The Palestinians criticized the normalization agreements and said those Arab countries had dealt a blow to the cause of peace by dropping a long-standing demand that Israel relinquish the lands on which the Palestinian state would be established before it was established. is recognized. Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain welcomed Morocco’s decision to normalize relations with Israel. Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.
“I appreciate this important step as it allows greater stability and regional cooperation in our region,” Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said on Twitter. The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, declared that this decision “is a sovereign step which contributes to reinforce our common quest for stability, prosperity and a just and lasting peace in the region”. Bahrain’s news agency said in a statement Thursday that King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa welcomed the Moroccan monarch’s decision to establish diplomatic relations and official contacts with Israel. The statement also hailed the United States’ recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara.
But Republican Senator Jim Inhoff, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, denounced Trump’s “shocking and extremely disappointing” decision to recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara. He said the people of this region should vote in a referendum to decide their future. “The president’s team did not advise him. This agreement could have been concluded without exchanging the rights of a people without a voice,” he added in a statement. A senior US official said Trump was aware of Enhoff’s opposition to recognizing Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara.
The deal with Morocco could be one of the last deals struck by the Trump team, led by prominent White House adviser Jared Kushner and US envoy Avi Berkowitz, before handing over power to the next administration headed by President-elect Biden. Kushner told reporters on a conference call that it was inevitable that Saudi Arabia would end up making a similar deal with Israel. A U.S. official said the Saudis would likely wait for Biden to take power before taking such a step, noting that even after Biden took power, strong internal opposition would emerge, which could hamper a decision in the near future.
Full diplomatic relations
Under this agreement, Morocco will establish full diplomatic relations and resume official contacts with Israel. “The two sides will immediately reopen the liaison offices in Rabat and Tel Aviv, with the intention of opening two embassies. The two sides will strengthen economic cooperation between Israeli and Moroccan companies,” Kushner told Reuters. Trump’s agreement to change his country’s policy towards Western Sahara was the main driver of Morocco’s approval of normalization and is seen as a major shift from his position, which was essentially neutral. In Rabat, the Moroccan Royal Court said Washington intends to open a consulate in Western Sahara as part of the deal.
A statement issued by the White House stated that the United States believes that the creation of an independent Sahrawi state “is not a realistic option to resolve the conflict and that effective autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty is the only viable solution. “. “We urge the two parties to start talks without delay, on the basis of the autonomy plan presented by Morocco as the only framework to negotiate a mutually acceptable solution,” the statement added.
In 1991, Washington supported a ceasefire agreement between Morocco and the Polisario Front, which called for a referendum to resolve the crisis. The Polisario withdrew from the agreement last month after widespread developments and announced a return to armed struggle. A representative of the Polisario Front, which seeks independence for Western Sahara, said the front “deeply regrets” the US decision to recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over the region, adding that the US decision is “strange but not surprising”.
“This (decision) will not change one iota of the reality of the conflict and the right of the people of Western Sahara to self-determination,” said Abi Bachraya, the Front’s representative in Europe. And he went on to say that the Polisario would continue the fight. Trump’s team tried to persuade Saudi Arabia to sign a deal to normalize relations with Israel on the grounds that Saudi Arabia’s signing would push other Arab countries to follow suit, but the Saudis have shown their reluctance to move. There is a possibility of a breakthrough to another level in the Middle East, as Kushner and his team traveled to Saudi Arabia and Qatar last week in an attempt to end a dispute that has lasted for nearly three years between Doha and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
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