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Palestine – Israel War: Morocco’s Uncomfortable Posture

What has been happening in Palestine since Saturday, October 7 leaves Arab countries that have normalized their relations with Israel, such as Morocco, in a very uncomfortable position.

This is particularly the case for Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. Holding the stick in the middle is proving difficult now that their new ally is razing Gaza City and massacring its population.

Between fundamentally pro-Palestinian public opinions and an Israel from which they expect a lot, the leaders of these two countries are faced with impossible choices.

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Current events have found Saudi Arabia in the middle. In September, his Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Salman (MBS) announced that each day that passes brings his country closer to a normalization agreement with Israel.

The kingdom can always backtrack by ending the process, especially since it has always linked normalization with obtaining concessions for the Palestinian cause.

Morocco and the Emirates, along with Bahrain and Sudan, took the plunge in 2020 without demanding anything for Palestine. The Abraham Accords, negotiated under the aegis of former US President Donald Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, allowed Morocco to obtain American recognition of its “ sovereignty ” over Western Sahara.

For Palestine and local public opinion, King Mohammed VI was content with the promise of continued support for the Palestinian people in his capacity as “ president of the Al Quds Committee ”.

This title, both pompous and inconsistent, King Mohammed VI inherited from his father Hassan II who held it since its creation in 1975.

Throughout this period, which saw Israel nibble additional Palestinian land every day, repress successive Intifadas, bomb civilians and do everything to kill the dream of a credible Palestinian state, Morocco dealt under the table with Israeli governments. successive ones, including the most extremist.

After the 2020 agreements, the two parties have only formalized things and moved to a higher stage in their cooperation, particularly military and security.

Morocco, obsessed with military supremacy over neighboring Algeria, has bet heavily on this agreement. It is therefore not the type of document that can be torn up with great ease.

Palestine – Israel War: Morocco keeps a low-profile

Nevertheless, the Moroccan street rumbles and exploits the slightest breach to express its total support for Palestine and its firm condemnation of Israel.

Supporters of the Raja de Casablanca football club did so during their team’s match on Sunday, displaying thousands of Palestinian flags in the stands.

Moroccan social networks are also on fire for Palestine. The situation is very serious. “ Either the regime brings down normalization, or it is normalization that will bring it down,” thundered the president of the Moroccan committee against normalization, Ahmed Ouihmane.

The official reaction of the Moroccan government suggests its dismay. While King Mohammed VI called for a meeting of the Arab League that everyone knows has no effect, his Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sent the Palestinians and their Israeli executioners back to back, saying it condemns “the attacks against the civilians of wherever they are .” Apart from this timid and embarrassed exit, there is total silence in Rabat.

Morocco keeps a low profile. On the 360. ma site, the writer Tahar Ben Jelloun, known to be close to the Royal Palace, tried to justify the Moroccan position by making the link between the Hamas attack and the support of Iran which he described as an ‘ enemy ‘ of the kingdom.

However, the White House indicated that it did not have information on Tehran’s involvement in the spectacular attack by Palestinian fighters against Israel.

An embarrassment that contrasts with the comfortable position of other Maghreb countries, notably Algeria and Tunisia, constant in their support for the Palestinian people and clear in their rejection of normalization.

Algeria was one of the first countries, if not the first, to firmly condemn, from Saturday morning, the Israeli bombings on the Gaza Strip. In Tunisia, at the injunction of the highest authorities, all students in the country waved the Palestinian flag.

Although it has no public opinion to manage, the United Arab Emirates also finds itself in an uncomfortable position and has more reason than Morocco not to back down.

The Arab Emirates has not only normalized relations with Israel by ignoring the plight of the Palestinians, but it is also trying to recruit other Arab countries to join the Abraham Accords. In particular, they tried, in vain, to force the hands of Tunisia and Libya.

The official reaction of the Emirates, via its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to what is happening in Palestine and Israel, conveys the image of a country that has burned its ships with the Palestinian cause and the Arab world. He is only “ dismayed ” by “ the taking of hostages of Israeli civilians”.

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