Morocco tells Arab states: Embrace diplomacy with Israel

Moroccan foreign minister tells Arab League members to drop their traditional opposition and engage with Israel.

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

Morocco is calling on Arab states to engage in diplomacy with Israel in order to help resolve the Palestinian issue, the north African nation’s foreign minister said on Monday.

In a video conference address to the Arab League, Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Bourita called on Arab states that have previously shunned contact with Israel to drop their old positions and set up their own dialog with the Jewish state.

“We believe diplomatic and political action is the way to go when dealing with the Palestinian issue, in parallel with the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, which we call to resume with the support of all forces inclined to peace,” Bourita said in comments posted on the Foreign Ministry’s social media accounts.

“We believe the Arab common action needs a new dynamic in light of the security, political and economic challenges, while the Palestinian issue remains at the forefront of our concerns,” Bourita said, adding that Morocco remained committed to the Palestinian cause “and will remain engaged in order to establish a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.”

Morocco is the most recent Arab country to normalize relations with Israel following the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan and Morocco – all of which established diplomatic relations with the Jewish State while saying they remain committed “to Palestinian national rights.”

Brokered by the Trump administration, the Abraham Accords were signed in September at the White House when the UAE and Bahrain established diplomatic relations with Israel, effectively ending the previous Arab policy of not recognizing Israel until after the Palestinian issue had been resolved. Sudan and Morocco followed suit and were joined last month by Kosovo, a predominantly Muslim European country that is not a member of the Arab League.

With peace talks effectively frozen since 2014 and the Palestinians split between the Fatah-controlled government in Ramallah and the Hamas terror group in Gaza that totally rejects the concept of peace with Israel, both sides were furious when the Arab countries bypassed the Palestinians to make their own peace with Israel.

Palestinian officials called the Abraham Accords a “stab in the back” to their cause and fired verbal barbs at the Arab countries making peace with Israel, drawing a rebuke from the widow of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat who apologized after Palestinian protesters burned UAE flags.