On Dec. 10, Morocco announced its intention to resume diplomatic relationswith Israel “as soon as possible”.
This announcement came during a phone call between Moroccan King MohammedVI and US President Donald Trump, according to a statement by the MoroccanRoyal Court.
The Moroccan announcement was preceded by a tweet of Trump, saying thatIsrael and Morocco have agreed to normalize ties. But Rabat considers themove a resumption of stalled relations, not normalization.
The relations between the two countries had a roller-coaster journey overthe past six decades.
Officially, relations between Morocco and Israel began in 1994 at a lowlevel. But then Rabat froze them in 2000, following the outbreak of thesecond Palestinian intifada.
Even before the official recognition, relations between the two countrieshave extended to the past many decades, witnessing immigration of MoroccanJews to Israel and meetings between officials from the two countries. Thatalso includes a meeting between the King of Morocco and the Prime Ministerof Israel.
Relations between Rabat and Tel Aviv began in the early 1960s, a periodthat observers deem “controversial”, during the reign of the late KingHassan II.
The late Jewish Shimon Levy, who was the director of the Jewish Museum inthe northern city of Casablanca, said that Moroccan Jews immigrated toIsrael in batches, for various reasons.
Migration of Jews
Speaking to the Moroccan newspaper Al-Masaa in 2009, Levy said that thefirst batch of Moroccan Jews had immigrated to Israel was in 1948, that is,immediately after the establishment of the Zionist state.
“Their number is estimated at 90,000 individuals, most of whom practicedsimple crafts [and emigrated] to improve their social conditions,” hementioned.
“The second group emigrated after Morocco gained independence [in 1965],and most of them did not have a desire to emigrate. They were deported,probably by a decision of the state, given the political conflict thatcharacterized that stage of Morocco’s history,” he added.
Levy stated that the biggest migration of Moroccan Jews took place in 1967,following Israel’s victory against Arabs in what is known as the Six-DayWar.
On July 22, 1986, King Hassan II received the then Israeli Prime Minister,Shimon Peres, in Morocco.
Peres’s reception provoked condemnation by Moroccan political forces andthe Arab League.
On Sept. 1, 1994, a major development took place as an Israeli liaisonoffice was opened in Rabat, which was interpreted as Moroccan recognitionof Israel. Two years later, Morocco opened a liaison office in Israel aswell.
At the time, Morocco attributed the establishment of these relations to itsdesire to maintain dialogue and understanding, instead of using force, toreach a just and comprehensive peace.
Warmth in relations
Israel issued a stamp bearing the image of King Hassan II, after his deathin 1999.
The volume of trade exchange between the two countries in that year reachedabout $50 million in 1999, and some 50,000 Israelis visited Morocco,according to the Israeli Liaison office in the kingdom.
On May 12, 2000, an Israeli military delegation comprising of 25 expertsfrom the air force visited the southern regions of Morocco.
On Sept. 22 of the same year, Israeli businessmen representing 24 companiesspecializing in agricultural technologies, visited Morocco at theinvitation of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Services inCasablanca.
On Oct. 23, 2000, Rabat announced the closure of the Moroccan liaisonoffice in Israel, and the Israeli office in Rabat, in response to theIsraeli suppression of the second Palestinian intifada, and the Israeligovernment’s announcement to halt the peace process with the Palestinianside.
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On Sept. 1, 2003, the then Israeli Foreign Minister, Silvan Shalom, visitedMorocco and met King Mohammed VI.
On July 4, 2007, then Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni met her Moroccancounterpart, Mohamed Benaissa, in Paris.
In 2008, the exchange of prisoners between Israel and the LebaneseHezbollah group included the remains of three Moroccan martyrs who hadjoined the ranks of the Palestinian and Arab resistance in the 1970s and1980s.
Renewed contacts
On Sept. 4, 2009, King Mohammed VI discussed with the then Israeli PrimeMinister, Ariel Sharon the roadmap for peace in the Middle East on phone,as part of Rabat’s efforts to reach a “just and permanent peace.”
In February 2019, Israeli Channel 13 reported that Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu had secretly met with the Moroccan Foreign Minister,Nasser Bourita, in New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.There was no immediate comment from Rabat.
On April 28, 2019, the account of Israel’s official Arabic on Twittershared a picture of King Hassan II and Peres’ meeting in Rabat in 1986.
On Aug. 24, 2020, the Moroccan Prime Minister, Saad-Eddine El-Othmani,said: “Morocco rejects any normalization with the Zionist entity becausethis strengthens its position in continuing to violate the rights of thePalestinian people.”
On Dec. 10, Morocco announced its intention to resume official contacts anddiplomatic relations with Israel “as soon as possible.”
In a statement issued by the royal court, Rabat revealed its intention to”facilitate direct flights to transport Jews of Moroccan origin and Israelitourists to and from Morocco”.
It spoke of “developing innovative relations in the economic andtechnological fields,” and stressed: “work to reopen liaison offices in thetwo countries, as was the case in the past for many years until 2002”.
The Kingdom attributed these anticipated steps to “the special ties betweenthe Jewish community of Moroccan origin, including those in Israel, withthe person of the Moroccan monarch”.
New era in relations
On the same day, Trump announced that Morocco and Israel had agreed tonormalize relations between them, with American mediation.
He also announced that the US recognized, for the first time, Morocco’ssovereignty over the disputed Sahara territories with the Polisario Front,which is backed by Algeria and seeks to establish an independent state.
With Morocco announcing the resumption of its diplomatic relations withIsrael, it would become the only Maghreb country that maintains relationswith Israel, after Mauritania cut ties with Israel in 2010. Besides Moroccoand Mauritania, the Maghreb includes Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya.
The UAE and Bahrain have signed two agreements with Israel in mid-Septemberto normalize relations with Israel, in an unprecedented move.
Thus, Abu Dhabi and Manama joined Jordan and Egypt, which have peaceagreements with Israel, since 1994 and 1979, respectively.
On Oct. 23, Trump also announced the agreement of Sudan and Israel tonormalize relations between them.
The resumption and normalization of relations with Tel Aviv sparkedwidespread Arab popular anger, in light of Israel’s continued occupation ofArab lands and its rejection of the establishment of an independentPalestinian state.
