Israel’s recent decision to “recognize Morocco’s sovereignty” over the disputed territory of Western Sahara is “null and void”, the Algerian-backed Polisario Front independence movement said on Wednesday.
“Such a position emanating from the Zionist entity or any other party to legitimize the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara is null and void”, indicated the “Sahrawi Ministry of Information”.
On Monday, the royal cabinet in Rabat announced, citing a letter from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that Israel had decided to “recognize Morocco’s sovereignty” over Western Sahara.
This position “will only strengthen the determination of the Saharawi people to continue their national struggle on various fronts”, adds the Polisario in a press release quoted by the official Algerian news agency APS.
He also denounced “joint, security and military subversive maneuvers aimed at destabilizing the North African region and the Sahel in general”.
The recognition by the “Zionist entity” of the “alleged sovereignty of the Makhzen (Moroccan state apparatus, editor’s note) over Western Sahara is a non-event”, underlined the independence movement.
This position “brings no added value to Rabat. On the contrary, it sinks it further, by confirming the alliance of a State and an entity which occupy, both militarily, Western Sahara and Palestine “, estimated the Sahrawi ministry.
The Polisario said it regretted this decision which reflects “a contempt for the resentment of millions of Moroccans who carry Palestine and Al-Quds (Jerusalem, editor’s note) in their hearts”.
The conflict of Western Sahara, a desert territory bordered by rich waters full of fish and with important phosphate reserves, opposes Morocco to the Polisario, supported by Algeria, since the disengagement in 1975 of Spain, the former colonial power.
The Polisario calls for a self-determination referendum under the aegis of the UN, which has been accepted but has not yet been held, while Rabat promotes autonomy under its sovereignty.
A ceasefire in effect since 1991 was shattered in mid-November 2020 after the deployment of Moroccan troops in the far south of the territory to dislodge separatists who were blocking the only road to Mauritania, according to them illegal because non-existent in 1991.
Algeria broke diplomatic relations with Morocco in August 2021 due to deep disagreements on this file and the rapprochement between Rabat and Israel.
Morocco and Israel normalized diplomatic relations in December 2020 as part of the Abraham Accords, a process between Israel and several Arab countries, backed by Washington.
