Moroccan Independence Day
celebrations in Ashdod,
Israel, November 23, 2022
[photo credit:
@morocco_israel]
Since the Trump deal
matters between Morocco
and Israel have been
moving along nicely with
memoranda of understanding
being signed and business
deals being done. In
September last year the
then Israeli Economy
Minister lavished praise
on the warmth
of the relationship.
The minister, Orna
Barbivay, argued:
There’s a mutual
desire to promote
effective economic
processes. The Abraham
Accords attests to the
fact that Israel is open
to peace with whoever
wants it, and the
economic opportunities
are extraordinary.
Morocco is just the
beginning, and the
potential is huge.
She called the connection
“the most natural thing in
the world.” Not so
natural, perhaps, for
ordinary Moroccans. At the
World
Cup, for example,
the Palestinian flag was
much in evidence as
Morocco dismantled
Belgium, Spain and
Portugal before finally
falling to France. It was
a remarkable
run transcending
football to make a
statement against Europe’s
exploitative colonial
history. Payback on the
pitch, so to speak, with
Palestine a running
leitmotif aimed at a
contemporary coloniser,
Israel.
In the 48th
minute of Morocco’s match
against
Belgium a huge
Palestinian flag was
unfurled to mark the 1948
Nakba or catastrophe which
saw the destruction of the
Palestinian homeland, mass
expulsions and permanent
displacement as the new
nation of Israel was
birthed in violence.
Throughout the tournament,
support for Palestine only
grew and Israeli media
personalities faced firm
refusals from Arab
football fans for
interviews as Palestinian
flags fluttered in the
background.
Itamar Ben-Gvir,
subsequently appointed a
minister in charge of
Israel’s police on both
sides of the Green Line,
must have ground his teeth
in rage at the sight of so
many Palestinian banners.
Now a senior member of the
most extreme government in
Israel’s history he is
bent on suppression of a
symbol of resistance. On 8
January, in his capacity
as National Security
Minister he ordered police
to remove
the flag from public
places wherever it was
deemed to be “an
incitement to terrorism.”
Meanwhile the process of
normalisation between
Morocco and Israel has hit
something of a snag and it
is all to do with the
Western Sahara. Rabat
is insisting that
the Israelis recognise
their annexation before
building an embassy in Tel
Aviv. The Israelis are
dragging their feet which
may have more to do with
Netanyahu’s focus on
cobbling together a
coalition of extremists
and meeting their demands
than any deliberate
attempt to thwart Morocco.
Otherwise it would seem
odd that Israel doesn’t
just go ahead and
recognise Morocco’s
sovereignty over the
Western Sahara and its
indigenous Sahrawi people.
After all, the Israelis
have built a nation on
land illegally seized;
they have continued since
1948 to colonise and annex
land in violation of UN
resolutions and
international law and they
have relentlessly
repressed the rights of
the indigenous Palestinian
people. Indeed, one might
make the claim that
between the two there is
an affinity for
annexation.
It may be closer to the
mark to say that given the
strength of support for
Palestine so recently
evident in Doha, Morocco’s
King Mohammed VI may
himself be the foot
dragger, holding off on
the embassy until the
enthusiasm has cooled. He
may have a bit of a wait,
particularly given the
racist extremists who now
control the Israeli
government and seem
hell-bent on destroying
what is left of Palestine.