Strengthening Diplomatic Ties
On Wednesday, Israel and Morocco took a significant step in their diplomatic relationship by agreeing to upgrade their diplomatic missions to full embassies and exchange ambassadors for the first time. This move comes nearly six years after the two nations re-established their diplomatic ties under a normalization agreement supported by the United States. The agreement was reached during a meeting in New York, attended by U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, and Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, just before the UN General Assembly.
A joint statement issued after the meeting reaffirmed the commitment of both countries to "the spirit of the Abraham Accords" and confirmed their agreement on elevating their diplomatic missions to full embassies and exchanging ambassadors. The Abraham Accords, a series of agreements mediated by the U.S. that began in 2020, established formal diplomatic relations between Israel and several Arab nations. The Morocco-Israel agreement was announced in December 2020, coinciding with the U.S. decision to recognize Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara.
Future Collaborations and Direct Flights
Morocco and Israel had previously established low-level diplomatic relations in 1994, which were suspended in 2000 during the Second Intifada in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza. During this hiatus, the two nations maintained liaison offices but did not exchange ambassadors. Their diplomatic ties were restored in 2020, but missions remained at the liaison level until this recent agreement. Alongside the elevation of diplomatic status, the two countries also agreed to finalize arrangements regarding investment protection and the prevention of double taxation. They aim to implement measures necessary for the immediate resumption of direct flights between Morocco and Israel, including those operated by both Israeli and Moroccan airlines, by the end of 2026.
In recent years, direct commercial flights between Morocco and Israel have been limited. Following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, the Moroccan national airline, Royal Air Maroc, suspended its direct service between Casablanca and Tel Aviv. While Israeli airlines have maintained some direct flights to Morocco, including seasonal services to Marrakech, regular direct flights from Rabat or Casablanca to Tel Aviv are currently unavailable.
The joint statement also emphasized the continued recognition by all three nations of Morocco's sovereignty over the entirety of Western Sahara and their support for Morocco's serious, credible, and realistic autonomy proposal regarding the territory. Western Sahara has been a contentious issue since Spain withdrew from the region in 1975, leading Morocco to take control of most of the territory while the Polisario Front, an independence movement backed by Algeria, resisted Moroccan forces. A UN-backed ceasefire came into effect in 1991, but the dispute remains unresolved and is a major factor in the strained relations between Algiers and Rabat. Diplomatic ties between Algeria and Morocco were severed in 2021 amid escalating tensions, including over the Western Sahara issue. Notably, Israel recognized Morocco's sovereignty over the territory in July 2023.
As reported by al-monitor.com.
