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Morocco treads fine line between courting Israel, Palestinians
Morocco is struggling to balance its alliance with Israel with support for the domestically popular Palestinian cause.
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Protesters carry pictures and wave the Palestinian flag during a demonstration in the capital Rabat on July 18, 2022, against the visit of Israeli Army Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi to Morocco. (AFP/Fadel Senna)
M
orocco is struggling to balance its alliance with Israel with support for the domestically popular Palestinian cause, an increasingly complex challenge with Israel ruled by its most right-wing government ever.
The North African country normalised its ties with Israel in December 2020, part of a series of deals known as the Abraham Accords, backed by the administration of then-US President Donald Trump.
In exchange, Rabat won a key concession from Washington: recognition of its sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara, where the Polisario movement seeks independence.
But the move was at odds with a strongly pro-Palestinian public mood in Morocco.
That square has been harder to circle in recent months as violence has surged in the Israel-Palestinian conflict, with the army carrying out deadly raids in the occupied West Bank.
But Rabat has been quick to defend itself.
A case in point is the royal palace's reaction after the opposition Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) "deplored" the Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita for allegedly defending Israel publicly, even as it commits "criminal aggression against our Palestinian brothers".
