It is in the context of strong tensions between Algeria and Morocco, and of unprecedented rapprochement between the latter and Israel, that the president of the Palestinian Authority has chosen to go to Algiers. This is Mahmoud Abbas’ first visit to Algeria since 2014.
Mr. Abbas is received with all the honors due to his status as Head of State by the President of the Republic Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who traveled to Algiers international airport to welcome him on his arrival on Sunday afternoon, December 5.
21 cannon shots were fired and President Tebboune summoned the highest officials of the State and representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited to Algiers to welcome “the distinguished guest of Algeria”, as the agency describes it. official APS.
The two parties want to place the Palestinian question as a central point at the next Arab summit in Algiers in March 2022. A wish was reaffirmed by President Tebboune in his statement to the press after his meeting with Abu Mazen.
The Algerian head of state reiterated Algeria’s same principled positions, namely that the settlement of the conflict can only occur with the proclamation of a Palestinian state within its 1967 borders, calling on the Arab states to return on the occasion of the next summit on the Arab peace plan of 2002. President Tebboune also announced the granting of the aid of 100 million dollars to the Palestinian Authority.
The red carpet unrolled for the Palestinian president, the strong opinions expressed and the checkbook issued on the occasion of this visit bear a precise meaning.
This is a reaffirmation of Algeria’s unconditional support for the struggling Palestinian people, a more than necessary reminder in this precise situation.
If the new alliance between Morocco and Israel, which recently signed a military cooperation protocol, has among its objectives to change Algeria’s positions vis-à-vis the Sahrawi and Palestinian questions, it has failed.
Algeria has already indicated that it will continue to support the right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination and has just reaffirmed that it will remain unwavering support for the Palestinian people, even if, because of the Moroccan initiative, it must now feel like a state facing Israel directly, in the words of Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra.
An untenable posture for Morocco?
For Mahmoud Abbas, who is starting a North African tour by zapping Morocco, it may also be a way to position himself in relation to everything that has happened in the region in recent months and to stand out from his rival, Palestinian Hamas, whose Leader Ismail Haniya surprised everyone by going to the kingdom last June, six months after the signing of the normalization agreements and when relations between Morocco and Algeria were deteriorating.
In June, the Moroccan government was still led by the PJD, a party of the same ideological persuasion as Hamas.
In Morocco, people continue to argue against all common sense that normalization in no way affects the support of King Mohamed VI and his country for the cause of the Palestinian people.
A speech reiterated on the eve of Mahmoud Abbas’ visit to Algiers by the former head of the Moroccan government and leader of the local Muslim Brotherhood, Abdelilah Benkirane.
The current king of Morocco and his predecessor, his father Hassan II, have always put forward their status as “president of the Al Quds committee” to present themselves as champions of the defense of the Palestinian cause. At the same time, their relations with Israel were an open secret, with even liaison offices operating in the two respective capitals until the 2000s.
By arranging this visit to Algiers with all its highly symbolic protocol details, Mahmoud Abbas is in a way pulling the rug under the feet of the Moroccan leaders. The posture they have been trying to adopt for a year made up of effective normalization and alleged support for the Palestinians will be more untenable after this tour of the Maghreb by Abu Mazen which, moreover, comes after a “shameful” military agreement between Morocco and Israel.
Mahmoud Abbas is also coming to make his contribution to the success of the next Arab summit in Algiers that some parties would seek to thwart, according to the Algerian diplomat.
“Some are working to scuttle the next summit. If they fail, they will try to make the performance meaningless. The masks have fallen. Everyone has returned to their own camp,” Ramtane Lamamra told Al Quds Al Arabi at the end of November.
