{"id":1037,"date":"2023-07-17T18:40:44","date_gmt":"2023-07-17T18:40:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/?p=1037"},"modified":"2023-07-17T22:05:55","modified_gmt":"2023-07-17T22:05:55","slug":"israel-recognizes-the-moroccan-sahara-and-intends-to-open-a-consulate-in-the-city-of-dakhla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/israel-recognizes-the-moroccan-sahara-and-intends-to-open-a-consulate-in-the-city-of-dakhla\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel recognizes the Moroccan Sahara and intends to open a consulate in the city of Dakhla"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">Israel&#8217;s recognition of Morocco&#8217;s sovereignty over its desert comes after Morocco&#8217;s firm position, in which His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God protect him, affirmed that &#8220;the Sahara issue is the lens through which Morocco looks at the<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">world, and it is the clear and simple criterion by which he measures the sincerity of friendships and the effectiveness of partnerships.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">Israel informed Morocco of its recognition of the Moroccan Sahara, in a step expected since the two parties resumed diplomatic relations about two years ago under the &#8220;peace of Abraham&#8221; agreements, after a break that began during<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">of the second Palestinian intifada in 2002.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">This development constitutes the latest episode in a series of international and regional recognitions of Morocco&#8217;s sovereignty over all of its territory, including the Sahara, around which a fabricated conflict has been raging for decades by the separatist Polisario Front supported by<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">Algeria, which calls for self-determination -determination, while Rabat presented in 2007 a proposal for autonomy which can be seen today, it is the most realistic solution to get out of the conflict.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">A press release from the royal court indicates today, Monday, that the King of Morocco Mohammed VI received from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu informing him of Israel&#8217;s decision to recognize the Moroccanity of the Sahara.<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">According to the statement, Netanyahu assured King Mohammed VI of Israel&#8217;s position, &#8220;which will be embodied in all relevant Israeli government actions and documents,&#8221; stressing that &#8220;the United Nations, regional and international organizations including Israel<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">is a member, as well as all countries with which Israel maintains diplomatic relations, will be informed of this decision.&#8221;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">The letter also stated that &#8220;Israel is positively considering opening a consulate for him in the city of Dakhla, as part of the consecration of this state decision&#8221;.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">The Israeli decision is part of the steps taken by Tel-Aviv and Rabat to strengthen their relationship and extend it to all economic, political, security and military domains.<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">In another development, the Israeli army announced in a statement on Monday the appointment of a military attach\u00e9 to Morocco, in what it describes as a &#8220;historic&#8221; step, which will raise &#8220;the level of development of relations<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">security between the two countries.<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">&#8220;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">&#8220;Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevy has decided to appoint Sharon Etah as the first military attach\u00e9 to Morocco, in a step that raises the level of development of security relations between the two countries,&#8221; he said.<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">According to the statement from the Israeli army, &#8220;the military attache will reside in Rabat and will undertake the task of developing and strengthening all security relations with Morocco, provided that he officially takes over in the coming months&#8221;<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">The Israeli army called the decision &#8220;historic in the context of Arab relations and the State of Israel, with the appointment of the first military attach\u00e9 to the Kingdom of Morocco&#8221;.<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">Al-J said that this step is &#8220;the culmination of several steps observed over the past two years, embodied in the visit of senior military officials and the conduct of a number of joint exercises, including the latest<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">was the African Lion, with the participation of elite forces (Israeli army) on Moroccan soil.<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">He continued: &#8220;The military attach\u00e9, Itah, comes from a Jewish family who lived in Morocco. He speaks the Moroccan dialect, and he visited the kingdom last year. Today, he holds the position<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">commander of the Haifa brigade on the Israeli army&#8217;s home front.&#8221;<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">An Israeli military source said: \u201cThis historic appointment is an example of the depth of cooperation and willingness of the two armies to build a long-term relationship based on mutual trust.<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">During the first half of 2023, Morocco has seen various visits by Israeli ministers, private sector officials and tourist delegations, including 4 ministers, 3 senior military officials and the speaker of the Knesset.<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">On December 10, 2020, Israel and Morocco announced the resumption of diplomatic relations after their suspension in 2000.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span class=\"jCAhz ChMk0b\"><span class=\"ryNqvb\">On the 22nd of the same month, the Moroccan government signed a &#8220;joint declaration&#8221; with Tel Aviv and Washington, during the first visit of an official Israeli-American delegation to the Moroccan capital, Rabat.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Israel&#8217;s recognition of Morocco&#8217;s sovereignty over its desert comes after Morocco&#8217;s firm position, in which His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God protect him, affirmed that &#8220;the Sahara issue is the lens through which Morocco looks at the world, and it is the clear and simple criterion by which he measures the sincerity of friendships [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1038,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,41,37],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1037","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-africa","8":"category-middle-east","9":"category-moroccan-diplomacy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1037","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1037"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1037\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1040,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1037\/revisions\/1040"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1037"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1037"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1037"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}