In what has been adjudged a historic development, Morocco is set to resume relations with Israel – and the United States has granted a key concession on Western Sahara.
According to reports, Moroccan King Mohammed VI announced that his country would “resume official contacts… and diplomatic relations with minimal delay” with Israel, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the agreement as “historic”.
As part of the agreement, US President Donald Trump has agreed to recognise Morocco’s sovereignty over the Western Sahara, where a decades-old territorial dispute has pitted Morocco against the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, a breakaway movement that seeks to establish an independent state in the territory.
Another HISTORIC breakthrough today! Our two GREAT friends Israel and the Kingdom of Morocco have agreed to full diplomatic relations – a massive breakthrough for peace in the Middle East!” Trump tweeted.
In a swift reaction, the Polisario Front condemned the US decision, while a United Nations spokesman responded that its position on the region was “unchanged”.
It would be recalled that the UN brokered a ceasefire in 1991 on the condition that an independence referendum be held in 1992. Morocco later blocked that vote and subsequent attempts to set up replacement polls. It was gathered that UN peacekeepers still monitor the fragile truce in the region.
