Morocco Normalize Diplomatic Relations with Israel

Morocco has become the latest Arab League country to agree to normalise relations with Israel in a deal brokered with US help.

As part of the deal, the US has agreed to recognise Morocco’s claim over the disputed Western Sahara region.

It is the subject of a dispute between Morocco and the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which has been seeking to establish an independent state.

Morocco is the fourth state to make such a deal with Israel since August.

Agreements have also been struck recently with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan.

Along with Egypt and Jordan, Morocco becomes the sixth Arab League member to normalise ties with Israel.

US President Donald Trump announced the agreement on Twitter on Thursday.

“Another HISTORIC breakthrough today! Our two GREAT friends Israel and the Kingdom of Morocco have agreed to full diplomatic relations – a massive breakthrough for peace in the Middle East!” he wrote.

The White House said Mr Trump and Morocco’s King Mohammed VI had agreed that Morocco would “resume diplomatic relations between Morocco and Israel and expand economic and cultural co-operation to advance regional stability”.

The deal includes the reopening of liaison offices in Tel Aviv and Rabat – shut in 2000 when low-level relations broke down after the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising – and the eventual opening of embassies. Officials said Morocco would grant direct flights to and from Israel for all Israelis.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the “historic” agreement.

In a televised address, he thanked Morocco’s king and said the people of Israel and Morocco have had a “warm relationship in the modern period”.

In Morocco, a palace statement confirmed the deal, saying the king, in a telephone call with Mr Trump, had agreed to diplomatic relations with Israel “with minimal delay”.

Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain issued statements welcoming the deal between Morocco and Israel.

Morocco’s king said the “measures do not in any manner affect Morocco’s ongoing and sustained commitment to the just Palestinian cause”, a royal statement said.

The statement added that the king had spoken with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and assured him that he “would never relinquish his role in defending the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people”.

It said the king had reiterated his support for a two-state solution.

The White House said the US would recognise Morocco’s claim over Western Sahara as part of the deal.

In a phone call with the Moroccan king, Mr Trump “reaffirmed his support for Morocco’s serious, credible, and realistic autonomy proposal as the only basis for a just and lasting solution to the dispute over the Western Sahara territory and as such the president recognised Moroccan sovereignty over the entire Western Sahara territory,” the White House said.

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