Morocco’s Normalization, another Milestone in Diplomacy.

On December 10th, the president of the US had declared major achievements and breakthroughs between USA and Morocco as well as Morocco and Israel.
As of the 10th of December 2020, USA had recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara and a Washington Consulate will be established in Al Dakhla, South Morocco, while Morocco has also declared normalization of Moroccan Israeli ties.

However, this date seems to have held many major and important events. While Morocco would like to focus more on its current achievements with the USA, the latest announcements on the normalization have caused many conflicted opinions to arise both from Moroccan and Palestinian parties; some have even gone as far as to call this act which Moroccan authorities have taken as “a betrayal”.

Nevertheless, the facts show otherwise, as it is important to state that the authorities had taken all measures solely to ensure peace and stability; a meeting between HM Mohamed VI and the Palestinian PA Mahmoud Abbas in which HM had informed the PA of the content of his phone call with US President Donald Trump has been held, further reaffirming that “his Majesty’s position in support of the Palestinian cause remains unchanged” and that Morocco in fact supports the two-state solution in order to continue negotiations and find solutions to the Palestinian and Israeli Conflicts.

The rise of conflicted opinions, however, is understandable, as a recent poll had shown that only 16% of Moroccans have a favorable view of Israel, while a previous survey taken had resulted in the rejection of 88% of its Moroccan participants for the diplomatic recognition of Israel.

Yet, what is not probably taken into consideration are all the facts, authorities’ positions and announcements when it comes to the matter, since Morocco has a rich history and strong historical ties with its jewish community and over 10% of Israel’s population is comprised of Moroccan Jews, the King; Mohamed VI has also always insisted on the need to preserve the special status of Al Quds Asharif’s city respecting the freedom of practicing the religious rites of the three monotheistic religions’ followers without any exclusion, and Morocco is actually the sixth Arab league member to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel along with Egypt and Jordan after agreements have also been struck recently with the UAE, Bahrain, and Sudan.

In addition to this, the normalization act was actually well welcomed from many officials including the Palestinian PA Mahmoud Abbas. In recent events, the US President Donald J. Trump had declared this act as a major “Historic Breakthrough for peace in the Middle East”, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the King Mohamed VI for his decision declaring it as a “historic” one bringing “another great light of peace”, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi was the first to issue statements welcoming and praising Morocco’s decision, while Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan also welcomed the declaration, and Bahraini Monarch Hamad Bin Issa Al Khalifa’s praised the decision stating that this deal would “enhance the chances of achieving peace, stability, and prosperity in the region”.

Last but not least, the President of the Palestinian authority Mahmoud Abbas had welcomed the Normalization of Moroccan Israeli ties further stating that “Israel has the right to live in peace and prosperity with all countries, and normalization with Morocco is welcomed”, continued to send his congratulations to HM King Mohammed VI, and announced that Israeli-Palestinian talks will continue soon.

In other news, it seems that the most conflicted opinions on the rise right now have come from Polisario front representative about the Western Sahara who declared that the US Change in policy is “strange but not surprising” and this will not change their reality and Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s parties announced it a “betrayal to Jerusalem and Palestine” about the recent normalization of Moroccan Israeli ties.