Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita urges the Biden administration to maintain the agreement sealed by President Trump earlier this month, according to which the United States agreed to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara and Morocco agreed to resume diplomatic relations with Israel.
What it says: “We really think the administration will find a good reason to preserve it,” Bourita told me in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of a US-Israel-Morocco trilateral summit in Rabat on Tuesday.
“We hope that the next administration will continue this positive dynamic and nurture what we have built because it was done for peace. What we have here is a package that was signed and the first commitment that everyone made was to defend, promote and update. this package “.
– Nasser Bourita to Axios
Why it’s important: The American recognition of Western Sahara was a controversial step that reversed decades of U.S. policy. Israel and Morocco worry that if Biden retracts it, the rest of the deal could be broken.
Game status: Biden did not welcome the deal, but did not criticize it either.
The other side: Bourita said the agreement was about peace and stability in the region and to end two disputes that have lasted longer than they should have: the Western Sahara conflict and the Arab-Israeli conflict. “We have to be game-oriented and not process-oriented,” he said.
Driving the news: On Tuesday, a U.S.-Israeli delegation led by Jared Kushner and Israeli national security adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat took a direct flight from Tel Aviv to Rabat.
- Kushner and Ben-Shabat met King Mohammed VI and signed six agreements on direct flights, investments and visas.
- Morocco and Israel have pledged to reopen diplomatic representation offices in Tel Aviv and Rabat in two weeks, and technical delegations from the two countries will begin this work next week.
- Both countries have maintained existing diplomatic properties since relations broke down two decades ago, recognizing that they could one day reopen, Israeli and Moroccan officials say.
Bourita told me that Morocco is different of the UAE, Bahrain and Sudan, which normalized relations with Israel in previous months, because Morocco first established formal relations with Israel in the early 1990s.
- “We told our American friends from the beginning, ‘Don’t give everyone the same shirt.’
- “We pioneered relations with Israel. For us, it’s a big event, but we’re not building from scratch … It’s about renewing traditional contacts and building something that lasts.”
- “Everything is normal now – We don’t plan to go just halfway there, ”Bourita said.
What follows: Bourita said Morocco wants to be a bridge builder between Jews and Muslims in the region and can also help in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
- “The late King Hassan II did it and King Mohammed VI is ready to do it when there are conditions and when there is a request. Her Majesty has credibility, ”Bourita said.
It is necessary to emphasize: It was crucial for Morocco to match Israel’s normalization, a step that polls suggest is just a small fragment of Moroccan support, with a much more unifying cause: recognition of Moroccan control of Western Sahara.
In depth: Trump gives Morocco a much-anticipated breakthrough