TLTP
\nRABAT
\nMorocco\u2019s decision to normalise relations with Israel in a United States-brokered deal has elicited mixed global reactions.
\nOn Thursday, Morocco became the fourth Arab country since August to strike a deal aimed at normalising relations with Israel. The others were the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan.
\nAs part of the agreement, US President Donald Trump agreed to recognise Morocco\u2019s sovereignty over the Western Sahara, where there has been a decades-old territorial dispute with Morocco pitted against the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, a breakaway movement that seeks to establish an independent state in the territory.
\nPalestinians have been critical of the normalisation deals, saying Arab countries have set back the cause of peace by abandoning a long-standing demand that Israel gives up land for a Palestinian state before it can receive recognition.
\nBassam al-Salhi, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization\u2019s Executive Committee, condemned the deal.
\n\u201cAny Arab retreat from the [2002] Arab Peace Initiative, which stipulates that normalisation comes only after Israel ends its occupation of Palestinian and Arab lands, is unacceptable and increases Israel\u2019s belligerence and its denial of the Palestinian people\u2019s rights,\u201d al-Salhi said.
\nIn Gaza, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said: \u201cThis is a sin and it doesn\u2019t serve the Palestinian people. The Israeli occupation uses every new normalisation to increase its aggression against the Palestinian people and increase its settlement expansion.\u201d
\nThe Polisario, which is made up of the local Sahrawi people and fought a war for independence from 1975 to 1991, condemned \u201cin the strongest terms\u201d Trump\u2019s attempt to give to Morocco \u201cthat which does not belong to him\u201d.
\n\u201cTrump\u2019s decision does not change the legal nature of the Sahara issue because the international community does not recognise Morocco\u2019s sovereignty over Western Sahara,\u201d the statement read.
\nThe Polisario, which seeks a referendum on self-determination, enjoys support from neighbouring Algeria, which has also welcomed thousands of Sahrawi refugees.
\nMorocco controls 80 percent of the disputed land, including phosphate deposits and the fishing waters.
\nEgyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, whose country has been linked since 1979 by a peace treaty with Israel, welcomed the announcement. El-Sisi hailed the deal as an \u201cimportant step towards more stability and regional cooperation\u201d in the Middle East.
\nSpanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya welcomed the announcement but rejected Trump\u2019s recognition of Western Sahara as part of Moroccan territory.
\n\u201cRegarding the normalisation of relations between Morocco and Israel, we welcome that normalisation, as we have welcomed each and every one of the normalisations that have taken place in recent weeks,\u201d said Laya.
\n\u201cRegarding peace between Israelis and Palestinians, that remains an issue to be resolved. And the question of Western Sahara remains to be resolved. And in both cases, Spain\u2019s position is very clear regarding that the United Nations resolutions need to be sought as a way to resolve those two questions,\u201d he added.
\nSpain was the occupying power in Western Sahara until 1975 when the country relinquished administrative control to a joint administration by Morocco and Mauritania. The country maintains close ties with the Sahrawi people and many activists have studied in Spain over the years.
\nFollowing the announcement, the UN said its position was \u201cunchanged\u201d on the disputed Western Sahara region.
\nUN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres believes \u201cthe solution to the question can still be found based on Security Council resolutions\u201d, his spokesperson said.
\nThe UN chief\u2019s message to the two parties \u201cis to avoid any action that could further aggravate a tense situation\u201d, the spokesperson added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TLTP RABAT Morocco\u2019s decision to normalise relations with Israel in a United States-brokered deal has elicited mixed global reactions. On Thursday, Morocco became the fourth Arab country since August to strike a deal aimed at normalising relations with Israel. The others were the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan. As part of the agreement, US […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-161432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n