Naeem Ashraf Mushtaha

The Arab-Israeli normalization is moving forward at a fast pace. As soon as the UAE signed the normalization agreement with the occupation, Bahrain followed. Then, Sudan, under Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan’s leadership, signed as well. Sudan agreed to normalize under the condition of being removed from the terrorism list, and threatened to denounce the agreement should the USA refuse to.

These agreements were made as part of the new peace plan for the Middle East which Trump calls ‘the Deal of the Century’. The news has spread about Morocco joining the normalization race and resuming diplomatic relations and communication with the Israeli occupation. The plan is for the relations to resume very soon as the Moroccan King Mohammed VI had declared upon the agreement made with the current US President Donald Trump. The agreement is for the USA to recognize the Western Sahara as under the sovereignty of Morocco.

The real question is: Will Joe Biden keep the US recognition of the Western Sahara as under the sovereignty of Morocco when he assumes his position as the new US President?

The USA has not changed its foreign policy regarding the Israeli occupation since its establishment in Palestine in 1948. To the US, the Israeli entity protects its interests in the Middle East, which makes it responsible for keeping the safety of the entity and for providing the necessary factors that maintain it as a legal state in the center of the Arab World. Therefore, Biden will not stop the normalization race. Instead, he will just follow a method different from Trump’s. He will not denounce his country’s agreement with Morocco, yet he will probably bargain for more privileges and Morocco will not refuse.

Initiation of Israeli-Moroccan Intelligence Collaboration

The intelligence and diplomatic collaboration between the Israeli occupation and Morocco dates back to 1963 when King Al-Hassan II sent a letter to Isser Harel expressing his concerns over the late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s possible plan to assassinate him. The entity and Morocco became really close when the Mossad sent its men with fake passports to Morocco, and were received by Mohamed Oufkir (or simply Oufkir), the Minister of Foreign Affairs at the time.

They agreed on establishing strong relations between the Mossad and the Moroccan Intelligence, and opening permanent liaison offices. The Mossad would train the Moroccan intelligence agents as Morocco would give the Mossad agents a solid cover around the world. They also agreed on forming a body that gathers shared intel, and a special Mossad unit that protects the King – making Morocco the first ally of the Mossad in the Arab World.

The Mossad carried out a joint assassination operation with the Moroccan Intelligence in 1965. The Mossad managed to bring to the Moroccan King his rival at the time Mehdi Ben Baraka, who was sentenced to death in abstentia and was assassinated by the Moroccan intelligence in Paris. This provoked the French President Charles de Gaulle and former Director of Mossad Isser Harel, who resigned his position afterwards.

Morocco’s Peace Attempts with the Occupation

Morocco tried to develop diplomatic relations in the Middle East in the late seventies. It tried to make peace agreements with Egypt and the Israeli occupation disregarding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

In the early nineties after Oslo Accords, Morocco and the occupation established relations that led to the opening of diplomatic envoy offices in Rabat and Tel Aviv. In addition, officials from the entity visited Morocco. Examples are Yitzhak Rabin, former Prime Minister, and Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister at the time; who visited Morocco as guests of King Al-Hassan II. Then towards the end of 1995, Shimon Peres, who was then PM, paid the Kingdom another visit.

Termination of Relations

The beginning of the twenty-first century was the ending of the diplomatic relations between Morocco and the Israeli occupation. As a result, they closed down their diplomatic offices and declared the termination of diplomatic ties between them.

Resumption of Relations

Nevertheless, PM Benjamin Netanyahu met with the Moroccan Foreign Minister Bourita after the ending of the meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York. As a result to which, President Donald Trump announced the making of a normalization agreement between Morocco and the Israeli occupation, and resumption of communication between the two; which legalizes the presence of the occupation in Palestine. They also agreed on reopening the Liaison Offices which had already been opened in 1994 but were later closed.