Israel’s public recognition of the Moroccan Sahara on the horizon

On Jun 1, 2023

According to sources, Morocco and Israel are engaged in high-level negotiations that are striving to achieve a quantum leap in their bilateral relations. Tel Aviv’s recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over its desert is therefore “just around the corner.”

Hespress learned that preparations are being made for Israel to recognize Moroccan Sahara, and that announcement is expected to be made in the next days.

The same sources suggested that Israel would announce its official position regarding the Sahara issue through the voice of the Israeli Knesset Speaker, Amir Ohana, who is set to make his first official visit to Morocco in early June.

The Israeli Knesset Speaker is coming to Morocco under invitation from the parliament to participate in the upcoming Conference on “Dialogue between Religions: Cooperation for a Common Future”, organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Moroccan Parliament, and taking place from 13 to 15 June in Marrakech, in partnership with the Religions for Peace Organization, with the support of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and the Muhammadiyah Association of Scholars.

According to the same sources, Ohana could visit the Moroccan Parliament in Rabat and speak with Rashid Talbi Alami, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who extended the formal invitation for him to attend the parliamentary conference that was to be hosted by Russia, before Morocco was nominated to host it after the war on Ukraine.

It has been 2.5 years since Morocco and Israel signed the Abraham Accord under American sponsorship; according to the sources, this is enough time to advance relations to a new level. The same evidence indicates that Rabat and Tel Aviv are currently enhancing their bilateral ties.

All barriers and obstacles to the further development of relations between the two countries would be removed by the anticipated Israeli “recognition” of Morocco’s sovereignty over its desert, as Morocco will work to raise its diplomatic representation in Tel Aviv to the status of the Kingdom’s embassy.

The Moroccan and Israeli parliaments agreed to exchange visits between their members and enhance joint cooperation between the two legislative institutions. This was especially highlighted during the visit of an Israeli parliamentary delegation to the headquarters of the Moroccan parliament in August 2021.

It is worth mentioning that the 47 years old Amir Ohana is of Moroccan descent, and held the position of Minister of Justice in 2019 before becoming the Minister of Internal Security in Israel between 2020 and 2021. These characteristics are indicative that he is most suitable a candidate for Israel to declare a position of this magnitude in Morocco, as was the case during the signing of the normalization agreement, where Meir Ben-Shabbat, the national security adviser to the State of Israel of Moroccan descent, led the Israeli delegation.

Israel sahara