The heads of Israeli and Moroccan diplomacy signed agreements relating in particular to political cooperation, aviation, and culture, during the first visit to Morocco by a senior Israeli official, seven months after the normalization of relations between the two countries.
These agreements “will bring innovation and opportunities to our countries for the benefit of our children,” said Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, welcoming “the restoration of peace and friendship” driven by the reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and Morocco.
The kingdom was the fourth Arab country – after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan – to normalize its relations with Israel in 2020 under the impetus of the United States of Donald Trump, in return for American recognition of its “Sovereignty” over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
Two agreements and a memorandum of cooperation on aviation, culture, and sports as well as on the creation of political consultation mechanisms were signed during the first day of this visit described as “historic” by the head of the diplomacy. Israeli.
The two countries had already signed agreements in the fields of water, aviation, and finance at the time of the first visit of a delegation of Israeli officials who arrived in December 2020 aboard a first direct flight between Rabat and Tel Aviv.
Deep links
During their meeting, Mr. Lapid and his Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita discussed the situation in the Middle East and in particular the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Moroccan minister stressing the need to “resume negotiations” to “reach a solution on the basis of two states”.
The head of Israeli diplomacy did not mention the Palestinian issue, preferring to stress the importance of the normalization of relations between Israel and Arab countries, proving according to him that “something is changing in the region”.
In the wake of the announcement of normalization with the Hebrew state, the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, assured Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of the continuation of “Morocco’s permanent and sustained commitment to the just Palestinian cause”.
The Palestinian cause continues to mobilize civil society, some extreme left parties and Islamists, who remain opposed to any normalization of relations with the Hebrew state, described as treason by the Palestinians.
Morocco and Israel maintained official relations from 1993 to 2000, when the second intifada broke out in the Palestinian Territories against the Israeli occupation.
In his statement, Mr. Lapid underlined the deep cultural ties between the kingdom and Israelis of Moroccan descent. He is due to inaugurate a diplomatic representation in Rabat on Thursday and visit Beth-El, one of the most emblematic synagogues of the megalopolis Casablanca (west), before leaving.
Morocco’s Jewish community, present since Antiquity, is the largest in North Africa (around 3,000 people) and represented up to 10% of the population at the end of the 1940s. And some 700,000 Israelis of Moroccan descent have often kept strong ties with their country of origin.
“New opportunities”
Mr. Lapid’s visit comes just over two weeks after the launch of direct commercial airlines between the two countries. Before the pandemic, 50,000 to 70,000 Israeli tourists, mostly of Moroccan origin, visited the kingdom each year but had to transit through other countries.
Before the meeting between the two ministers, Israeli officials including Minister of Welfare Meir Cohen and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Parliament Ram Ben Barak visited the royal mausoleum where Kings Hassan II and Mohammed V. are buried.
In a statement, the head of the American diplomacy Antony Blinken welcomed the visit of Yaïr Lapid, affirming that the United States, architects under Donald Trump of the Israeli-Moroccan rapprochement, would continue to work with the two countries to “create a future more peaceful, secure and prosperous for all the peoples of the Middle East.”
Morocco and Israel had also signed in July in Rabat a cooperation agreement in the area of cyber defense, covering “operational cooperation, research, development and information sharing,” the Israeli national leadership said on Facebook. cybersecurity.
Recently, the kingdom was accused of using spyware Pegasus, designed by Israeli company NSO, according to an investigation by an international media consortium. Rabat categorically denied “these false and unfounded allegations” and initiated legal proceedings.
