The book “Morocco-Palestine, The Appointments with History” by its author, Ahmed El Biaz, is enjoying great success. After its presentation at the last book fair which took place at the end of February in Rabat, the book was just presented, on Tuesday, July 9, 2024, at the headquarters of the Bayt Mal Al Qods Acharif Agency in Rabat, at an initiative of Ambassador Jamal Choubaki. The presentation of this book, which was the first activity of the summer program of the new Research and Studies Center of the Bayt Mal Al-Quds Agency, was carried out by eminent academics, Mohamed Zakaria Aboudahab and Boutaina Ben Salem.
The book of more than 500 pages, published in French and Arabic, looks back at several milestones in the close relations between Morocco and Palestine, including Morocco’s unconditional and constant support for the Palestinian people, from Salaheddine El Ayyoubi in the 12th century to Mohammed VI. Due to the author’s role as the leading player in the kingdom’s airport sector for nearly 4 decades, his supervision of the construction of the first airport of the young Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat Airport in Gaza, plays a prominent role. An airport that is a symbol of sovereignty and freedom for the Palestinians. The airport, whose inauguration by US President Bill Clinton and President Yasser Arafat, gave him international recognition, and consequently American recognition of the Palestinian Authority.
This book is distinguished by the fact that it is embellished with documents, photos, and testimonies of leading actors of these historic meetings of Morocco and Palestine, illustrating official events that took place in Morocco and Palestine, which testify to the close ties between the two countries and the two peoples. The result of a great effort of research and documentation, the work is also intended to be an important educational tool for researchers, students, professors, and readers in general.
This is to contribute to the preservation of the Moroccan-Palestinian collective memory. For his part, the director in charge of the management of the Bayt Mal Al-Quds Acharif Agency, Mohamed Salem Cherkaoui, highlighted the importance of this book which highlights the strong ties between Morocco and Palestine. The Palestinian ambassador to Morocco, Jamal Choubki, for his part, praised the constructive efforts of the Kingdom in supporting the Palestinian cause as well as the work accomplished by the writer to produce and publish this work.
As for Selmane Abou Halib, former Director of the Yasser Arafat airport, he revealed that the late Hassan II had taken the initiative to bring, in 1968, in absolute secrecy, 180 Palestinians for training on piloting military aircraft, for three months, in which he participated. Political, cultural, and academic figures took part in this event.
