Morocco formally signed a normalization agreement with Israel during a visit to the presidential palace by an Israeli delegation on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Saad Eddine El Otmani signed the declaration in the presence of King Mohammed VI, who announced the resumption of ties with the occupying state.
US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior White House adviser, Jared Kushner and Israel’s National Security Adviser Meir Ben Shabat were also among the attendees at the signing ceremony in the Moroccan capital on Tuesday evening.
First Israel-Morocco Flight lands in Rabat to Mark Normalisation Deal https://t.co/JGirCaD6ke
— ARISE News Feed (@ARISEtv) December 22, 2020
In a press conference with Kushner, Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said his country intends on opening a liaison office with Israel within the next two weeks. Morocco closed its liaison office in Tel Aviv in 2000, at the start of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising.
A report by state news agency MAP, confirmed the measures include “the granting of authorization to Israeli airline companies to carry members of the Moroccan Jewish community and Israeli tourists to Morocco, the full resumption of diplomatic and official contacts and relations with Israel at the appropriate level, the promotion of dynamic, innovative bilateral economic cooperation, as well as measures for the re-opening of liaison offices in Rabat and Tel Aviv”.
The signing came just hours after the delegation landed in Rabat onboard the first direct commercial flight between Israel and Morocco on Tuesday.
LIVE! Statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following US President Donald Trump's announcement regarding Morocco, at Hanukkah candle lighting ceremony with US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman at the Kotel. https://t.co/CK9VbORFwq
— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) December 10, 2020
Morocco is home to North Africa’s largest Jewish community, which dates back to ancient times and grew with the arrival of Jews expelled from Spain by Catholic kings from 1492.
The normalization deals came amid condemnation from Palestinians who pointed out that the Arab states involved were offering normal diplomatic and cultural ties to Israel, despite it illegally occupying Palestinian land in the West Bank and besieging the Gaza Strip.
Public opinion surveys in the Arab world have shown overwhelming popular disapproval of the normalization deals.
(The New Arab, PC, Social Media)
