Israel has a diplomatic liaison office in Rabat, but not a full-fledged embassy. Morocco has been postponing the convening of the second Negev Summit, the meeting of four Arab countries that recognize the Jewish state under the Abraham Accords, since March and has again postponed it to the end of June. Despite the fact that bilateral ties, resumed since December 2020 and established by Republican Donald Trump in his last few months in the White House, have progressed apace in terms of security and defense, economy and trade, or tourism and culture, the government is Rabats Remain Active They are still waiting for the Israeli executive to take the decisive step of recognizing Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara to untie the knots that are tainting the close ties.
Disagreements between the allies are preventing Israel’s desired raising of the Israeli legation in Rabat and have been blocking the holding of the second installment of the Negev summit, named after the southern Israeli desert of the same name, since the beginning of the year. The first edition took place in 2022 and was valid as Israel’s most important political trump card to break through its isolation from Arab countries. Hidden behind the diffuse curtain of diplomatic language, the debate has been dominated by the periodic outbreaks of violence between Israeli troops and Palestinian armed groups just recorded in Jenin (northern West Bank). After all, the chief of Israeli diplomacy, Eli Cohen, has just laid the cards on the table: Israel will recognize sovereignty over the Sahara when Morocco convenes the Negev summit once and for all.
“Right now we are working on this matter and our plan is to make a final decision in the Negev forum. We are working on our position and I think the final decision will be made in September,” the foreign minister said at a meeting with foreign press in Jerusalem on April 3. Rabat is keen for Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to officially take control of the Sahara by opening a consulate in El Aaiun or Dakhla. Despite the change in the United States presidency, Democrat Joe Biden’s administration has not challenged the recognition of sovereignty granted by his predecessor without the need to establish a diplomatic mission in Western Sahara, as 28 other states have already done It has continued to promote the momentum of normalizing relations between the Jewish state and Arab countries.
The Negev Forum emerged hand-in-hand with Israel’s so-called government of change and then foreign minister, centrist leader Yair Lapid, a broad coalition backed by an Israeli Arab party. Now they have been replaced by the most right-wing government in Israel’s history, with Prime Minister Netanyahu backed by the anti-Arab far right and the largest Jewish settler party in the West Bank.
Normally moderate Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have condemned the Israeli military operation in Jenin and called for a return to dialogue with the Palestinians to prevent further escalation. Morocco has gone even further by calling on the international community to intervene to “stop the aggression that this people (the Palestinians) and their territory are suffering,” Moroccan Foreign Minister Naser Burita stressed the day after his Israeli counterpart, to define the diplomatic parameters for the recognition of sovereignty over the Sahara. Burita reiterated Rabat’s condemnation of “the multiple Israeli aggressions in Jenin.”
As conflict in the Holy Land flared up again in recent days, Morocco had to strike a new balance in maintaining the strategic alliance with the Jewish state and solidifying its traditional Arab support for the Palestinian cause in Jerusalem, which King Mohammed VI had promised. himself leads the Organization for Islamic Cooperation at the top of the Al-Quds Committee.
Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without restrictions.
subscribe to
“Public opinion in the Arab world may be silent, but it is following developments closely. “The recent postponement of the Negev summit should come as no surprise, and there could be a fourth postponement if violence in the West Bank continues and the Israeli government authorizes new settlements to be built,” he said in an opinion column in the Sunday newspaper. The Jerusalem Contributor Jamal Amiar, Moroccan journalist and writer, author of Le Maroc, Israël et les Juifs marocains (Morocco, Israel and the Moroccan Jews).
Israel has launched a diplomatic offensive in Morocco in recent weeks to strengthen rapprochement. After Transport Minister Miri Regev, Amir Ohana, also a Jew of Moroccan origin and President of the Knesset or Israeli Parliament, has most clearly foreseen an impending recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. Netanyahu’s national security adviser Tzahi Hanegbi met Minister Burita in Rabat to negotiate the details, but the announced political will has not yet translated into a formal statement.
A week before minister Eli Cohen outlined Israel’s new position, he had assured a meeting of the Knesset’s foreign affairs and defense committee that they planned to attend the next Negev summit alongside Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco, according to According to a statement released by the Chamber, the Jewish state has no diplomatic relations with at least two other Arab countries, without specifying which countries. Israeli analyst and expert on diplomatic relations Barak Ravid on the information portal Axios has named Somalia and the Comoros, both members of the Arab League, as the most likely candidates for the Abraham Accords Club expansion.
Military and Commercial Benefits
The strategic alliance with Israel has given Morocco military advantages, such as the acquisition of the latest generation of drones and missiles and access to intelligence tools, which have changed the balance of power vis-à-vis the Polisario Front and Algeria, which fully supports the independence movement . Sahara Desert. The technological advantage of the Moroccan army over the Algerian superiority in troops and weapons on the ground has been confirmed by the United Nations through MINURSO, the mission deployed by the international community in the Sahara since 1991, following a ceasefire that was officially broken in late 2020. The bilateral Trade between the new allies has skyrocketed, with a 32% increase in 2022 in favor of Israel, which sent more than 200,000 tourists to Morocco. More than 700,000 Israelis, about 8% of the population, are Jews of Moroccan origin.
Moroccan society has also changed with the rapprochement with Israel. A few years ago there were thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters on the streets of Moroccan cities. Now only a few dozen gather in front of the parliament building in Rabat to protest against Israeli military interventions in Palestinian territories. According to a poll by the Arab Barometer, 31% of the population are in favor of normalizing relations with the Jewish state. However, football has shown that Moroccan-Palestinian relations remain emotional. At the World Cup in Qatar, where Morocco reached the semi-finals last December, the Atlas Lions proudly displayed the Palestinian flag in official photos after each victory, to the unanimous applause of fans across the Islamic world.
Follow all international information on Facebook and Twitteror in our weekly newsletter.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits