Moroccans Hold Protests against Normalization of Ties with Israeli Regime

On the second anniversary of the signing of the agreement between Rabat and the Tel Aviv regime, people from all walks of life responded to the "Moroccan Front in Support of Palestine and Against Normalization" call by marching in nearly 30 cities across Morocco, including Casablanca, Oujda, Meknes, Tangier, Larache, Khemisset, Agadir, and Khouribga, to express solidarity with Palestinians and condemn Morocco's normalization of relations with the Tel Aviv regime.

Thousands of Moroccans demonstrated in front of the parliament building in Rabat, chanting anti-normalization slogans, raising Palestinian flags, and chanting solidarity and anti-normalization slogans, Arabi21 reported.

According to the Front, those who opposed normalization expressed their "unconditional support for the Palestinian resistance" and "condemned the country's rush to fall into the arms of the enemy under the guise of bartering the Palestinian issue.”

The demonstrators waved national Palestinian flags, and held up placards that read “Normalization is treacherous” and “The struggle will carry on until the normalization agreement is revoked” in Arabic.

The participants also set fire to the Israeli flag in front of the legislature’s building.

Tayeb Midhmadh, coordinator for the Moroccan Front in Support of Palestine and Against Normalization movement, which reportedly includes 15 political, union and human rights organizations, said the nationwide protests convey the message that the entire nation is fiercely opposed to normalization with Israel.

Israel and Morocco agreed on December 10, 2020 to normalize relations in a deal brokered with the help of former US president Donald Trump’s administration, making the North African country the fourth Arab state to strike a normalization deal with the regime. The others were the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan.

Trump sealed the agreement in a phone call with Morocco’s King Mohammed VI. As part of the agreement, the US president agreed to recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over the Western Sahara region, which has been at the center of a dispute with neighboring Algeria.

Algeria cut diplomatic ties with Morocco in August 2021, citing "hostile actions."

The Algerian foreign ministry later rejected Trump’s stance, saying the US decision “has no legal effect because it contradicts UN resolutions, especially UN Security Council resolutions on Western Sahara.”

The Algeria-backed and pro-independence Polisario Front also rejected “in the strongest terms” Trump’s stance on the disputed Western Sahara Desert region, stating that the former US president attempted to give Morocco the region “which does not belong to it.”

The agreement with Israel also drew condemnation from the Palestinians.