In a December 12, 2020 article, Moroccan journalist Oussi Mouh Lahcen praised his country's decision to establish diplomatic ties with Israel, calling it an "historic initiative" that is necessary" and "wise" and will advance peace in the Middle East. Explaining that Morocco-Israel relations had developed many years previously in numerous areas, he stated that Morocco has always supported peace and moderation, and that it was Morocco that had encouraged the Israel-Egypt and Israeli-Palestinian peace processes. He added that by deciding to renew relations with Israel, Morocco had "killed two birds with one stone" – joining the camp of peace seekers as well as obtaining historic official U.S. recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara.
The following are translated excerpts from the article:
"The decision to warm up diplomatic relations between Morocco and the Hebrew state is a wise and realistic decision. This historic initiative will support [efforts] to achieve a just peace in the Middle East and encourage the [renewal] of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, instead of the language of violence and death. Moreover, this initiative does right by the kingdom [of Morocco] and the unification of its lands, for the U.S. government has confirmed its sovereignty over its [Sahara] desert and intends to open a consulate in the [Western Sahara] city of Dakhla...
"As the office of King [Mohammed VI] took pains to emphasize in its statement, the [Moroccan] kingdom's decision [to establish relations with Israel] will not 'in any way' harm 'its permanent and ongoing commitment to defending the just Palestinian issue and its constructive involvement [in efforts] to impose a just and sustainable peace in the Middle East.' This is a significant matter intended to prevent any tendentious interpretation [of Morocco's normalization with Israel] by any internal or external element that continues to exploit the Palestinian issue to achieve ideological aims and to serve agendas that do not contribute to the peoples' aspirations to achieve peace...
"Moderation and realism are what distinguish the diplomatic positions of the Kingdom of Morocco. This can be credited to Morocco's official position from the beginning, when its starting point was support for the Palestinian issue and unconditional solidarity with the Palestinians, while at the same time [maintaining] moderation and realism in all things concerned with treating Israel as an established fact. Today, in light of the geostrategic changes on the regional and international level, it was necessary to kill two birds with one stone: to join the peace seekers, and to obtain an historic decision from the U.S. government clearly and officially recognizing that the [Sahara] desert is Moroccan – constituting a death blow to the Polisario [Front] and the supporters of its separatist plan...
"Morocco's official position makes the existence of peace conditional on an agreement that satisfies the Palestinians. This is not necessarily the position of some political elements in Morocco that are the vestiges of tyrannical regimes that cloak themselves in a nationalistic pan-Arab ideological mantle, or are the vestiges of the streams of political Islam [i.e. the Muslim Brotherhood] that have always opposed what they refer to as 'normalization,' and that exploit the Palestinian issue... to serve their agenda inside and outside Morocco.
"The official Moroccan position regarding the conflict in the Middle East and whether or not [to establish] relations with Israel is fundamentally a sovereign and exclusive issue for the head of state and Commander of the Faithful [i.e. the King of Morocco]. These [issues] will not be determined by any organization, whether from the national left, from political Islam organizations, or from any others. Morocco did not suspend relations with Israel until after the outbreak of the Palestinian intifada in 2000. On October 23, 2000, during Netanyahu's time [sic – at that time Israel's prime minister was Ehud Barak], the Israeli liaison office in Rabat and the Moroccan liaison office in Tel Aviv were closed. This came after the two countries had maintained low-level relations since 1993, after a Palestinian-Israeli peace agreement was arrived at [i.e. the Oslo Accords], which was the jewel in the crown of a track begun with meeting in Ifrane [in Morocco] between [Moroccan] King Hassan II and then-Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres on July 22, 1986...
"Even at the height of the Arab-Israeli conflict and when the Moroccan street raged as a result of the incitement by those who exploited the conflict, the thread that connected Rabat and Tel Aviv was never severed. Furthermore, mutual cultural, human, and even economic and commercial relations continued, even if unofficially – [even] on the diplomatic level... Israel's Channel 13 reported that on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York, in September 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita...
"Whether during the reign of the late king or the reign of King Mohammed VI, Morocco has continued to support [efforts] to achieve a just peace in the Middle East, to encourage the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, and to always urge the sides to show flexibility. Except for its sending of troops to Sinai and the Golan during the 1973 October War, Morocco has always encouraged dialogue and negotiation. It stood behind secret meetings that prepared the ground for Israeli-Egypt meeting that [ultimately] led to the signing of the Camp David Accords...
"Renewing relations with Israel is not an end in itself. The language of interests that today govern international relations recognizes neither perpetual hostility nor perpetual friendship – just perpetual interest... and the interest of countries and of peoples can only be for peace and for abandoning wars, so as to fight epidemics, poverty and economic crises... Therefore, the decision to warm up Rabat-Tel Aviv relations is a wise one, and is a realistic and unavoidable necessity for a just and comprehensive peace."[1]
[1] Hespress.com, December 12, 2020.
