Morocco might be next state to normalize ties with Israel-Washington Post

Following the breakthrough announcement by Abu Dhabi and Israel to normalize ties, the Washington Post said that Morocco is among the MENA region countries that might follow suit along with Oman and Bahrain.

The UAE and Israel said on Thursday they will forge a broad new relationship under a deal that US President Donald Trump helped broker.

Abu Dhabi said the deal was conditioned on a freeze of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

 

Under the agreement, the UAE and Israel will normalize diplomatic relations and forge cooperation agreements across a range of areas, including security, health care and energy.

Palestinian factions rejected the accord and the Palestinian authority withdrew its ambassador to the UAE.

UAE joins Jordan, which reached a peace agreement with Israel in 1994 and Egypt, which signed a pact with its former enemy in 1979.
Egypt was among the first Arab countries to congratulate the UAE on the move.

 

The Egyptian President called UAE leader Mohammad Bin Zayed to congratulate him on the “historic step…in advancing the peace process,” a spokesperson for the Egyptian president said. “I value the effort of those embarking upon this agreement for the sake of achieving prosperity and stability for our region,” the president said.

Jordan’s reaction was cooler, with Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi making no mention of the agreement on bilateral ties, saying only that the decision to freeze the annexation of Palestinian lands included in the agreement must be followed by Israel, stopping all illegal measures, which undermine peace opportunities and its violations of Palestinian rights.

 

“Israel must immediately enter into direct, serious and effective negotiations to achieve peace based on the two-state solution and in accordance with international law,” Safadi said.

Oman and Bahrain have also congratulated the UAE for the agreement that stirred the anger of Ankara, which described the deal as treason and threatened to close its embassy in Abu Dhabi.

Jared Kushner, senior adviser to President Trump, said the UAE-Israel pact was an “icebreaker” that he hoped would be followed by similar moves by other Arab countries.

In this respect, Morocco was raised along with Oman and Bahrain while Saudi Arabia will maintain ties with Israel but refrain from any formal recognition of the Hebrew State.

 

No official comment was made by Moroccan diplomacy, which has been campaigning for decades for the two state solution with Jerusalem as the capital of a viable Palestinian State.

 

The deal is a political boost for Trump and Netanyahu who domestically faced setbacks ahead of Presidential elections.