Israel-Morocco: negotiated peace

The announcement was made on Twitter by Donald Trump. In a series of tweets, the outgoing US president revealed that Morocco and Israel will normalize their diplomatic ties. “This is a huge breakthrough for peace in the Middle East”, rejoiced the resident of the White House, although the Cherifian kingdom is in the Maghreb … The Trump administration had been working for several months behind the scenes for Rabat to recognize the Hebrew state. Morocco is following in the footsteps of Sudan, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, which respectively formalized diplomatic relations with Israel in October and September last.

But like the peace between Tel Aviv and Khartoum, which followed the withdrawal by the Trump administration of Sudan from the list of countries accused of supporting terrorism, that between Israel and Morocco seems here too the result of a transaction between Washington and Rabat. In the same round of tweets, Donald Trump indicated that he also recognized this Thursday the sovereignty of Morocco over Western Sahara. “The serious, credible and realistic proposal of autonomy of Morocco is the ONLY basis for a just solution aiming at a lasting peace and prosperity”, underlined the resident of the White House. In a statement from the royal palace, King Mohammed VI said his country would “resume diplomatic relations” with Israel “as soon as possible”. The two states had indeed already had liaison offices in Rabat and Tel Aviv. Inaugurated in 1994, these two diplomatic representations had to close in the early 2000s when the second intifada broke out. “Morocco already had good relations with Israel under Hassan,” recalls Hasni Abidi, director of the Center for Studies and Research on the Arab and Mediterranean World (Cermam) in Geneva. “Thousands of Jewish citizens were already moving between the two countries and King Mohammed VI has never been opposed to normalization with Israel, especially since he has a lot to gain from it. In the palace press release, the Commander of the Faith insists above all on the concession made by the United States on Western Sahara. For Mohammed VI, “the constructive position of the United States (…) reinforces the dynamics of the consecration of the Moroccan character of the Sahara”.

Forty-five-year-old conflict

A Spanish colony until 1976, Western Sahara is a desert territory the size of half of France, located on the border between Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania. Rich in phosphate deposits and bordered by waters full of fish, this strip of land is controlled 80% by Morocco, and 20% by the Polisario Front, an armed group from the Sahrawi nomadic population that inhabits the area. Supported militarily by neighboring Algeria, the Polisario militates for the right of peoples to self-determination and wants the organization of a self-determination referendum in order to establish the independence of the territory. On the contrary, Rabat considers the region to be part of its “historic” borders and demands for the territory a status of “autonomy under control”.

This forty-five-year-old armed conflict culminated in a ceasefire in 1991 under the aegis of the United Nations, which deployed an armed force on the spot: the United Nations Mission for the organization of a referendum in Western Sahara (Minurso). But the negotiations organized since between belligerents stalled, each camp refusing the slightest concession. The United Nations has never succeeded in organizing the referendum they are calling for. However, during this time, Morocco is engaged in a vast diplomatic offensive aiming to establish its presence on the ground. Over the past year, some fifteen African countries have opened diplomatic representations in Western Sahara, officially confirming Moroccan control over the territory. This fall, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Jordan, three Arab countries that have recognized Israel, announced the opening of consulates.

Trump’s diplomatic success

Weakened by the political crisis shaking Algeria, its main support, the Polisario Front has decided to break the status quo, which is unfavorable to it, by blocking on October 20 a group of Moroccan truckers at the Guerguerat crossing point, a buffer zone located on the border with Mauritania. In retaliation, the Moroccan army launched a military operation on November 11 aimed at liberating the axis, resulting in the official announcement of the breaking of the ceasefire by the Polisario Front.

“In its desire for total victory against the Polisario, Morocco needed direct and frank support from the United States so that it recognizes the Moroccan character of Western Sahara”, decrypts Khadija Mohsen-Finan, political scientist and teacher-researcher at Paris-1-Panthéon-Sorbonne University. “For his part, Donald Trump can boast of having achieved diplomatic success with the recognition of an important country. Morocco is the Western countries’ best ally in the Arab world, with a population far larger than the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and a large Jewish community. Its king is the president of the Al-Quds committee (a structure dependent on the Organization of the Islamic Conference aiming to defend the Arab-Muslim character of Jerusalem, Editor’s note) ”.

In the statement from the royal palace, the King of Morocco assured that the recognition of Israel in no way affected the kingdom’s commitment to defend the two-state solution – Israeli and Palestinian – living side by side, yet made obsolete by the unrestrained pursuit of colonization in the West Bank, illegal under international law. But in Rabat, the status of Western Sahara is far more important than the Palestinian question. “With Algeria paralyzed by the absence of its president, the UN Security Council which failed to appoint an envoy for Western Sahara and the last weeks before Joe Biden’s arrival at the White House, much more sensitive to human rights than Donald Trump, Mohammed VI had a dream window to achieve this deal, ”analyst researcher Hasni Abidi.

To Israel, the Moroccan sovereign said he wanted “to grant direct flight authorizations for the transport of members of the Moroccan Jewish community and Israeli tourists from and to Morocco.” The Jewish community of Moroccan origin counts about 700,000 members in Israel, of which 50,000 to 70,000 people visit the Shereefian Kingdom each year, most from the Hebrew state. “The normalization of relations between Morocco and Israel is perhaps less strategic than that concluded with the United Arab Emirates, but it is more emotional for the Israeli population,” said a diplomat. “It is also symbolic: there are hundreds of thousands of Moroccan Jews in Israel. ”