Six days before the holding of general elections in Spain, the cabinet of the Royal Palace of Morocco released a letter from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to King Mohamed VI in which he unilaterally recognized, outside the United Nations, Morocco’s full sovereignty over Western Sahara. The letter announces the upcoming opening of an Israeli consulate in Dakhla, the former Villa Cisneros from the Spanish colonial period, located 550 kilometers south of El Aaiún.
Urbi et orbi message: Morocco does not shrink and can count on a powerful strategic ally in the military field, in the midst of a rearmament race with Algeria. Israeli tourists, economic investments in key sectors, coordination of military intelligence, latest generation drones and Pegasus software to listen to conversations of interest.
Israel finally stamps the gift of Donald Trump during the last weeks of his presidential term: unilateral recognition, outside the UN, of Moroccan sovereignty over the former Spanish colony, in exchange for full diplomatic relations with Israel that contribute to modifying the alliances in the Middle East to the detriment of Iran.
We are talking about Israel’s rapprochement with the Sunnis. The so-called Abraham Accords initiated with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Morocco brings a very special ceramic to this mosaic: 8% of the population of Israel are Jews of Moroccan origin. There has always been an influential Jewish community in Morocco, especially based in the city of Casablanca.
The method that has been followed on this occasion is the same with which the famous letter from Pedro Sánchez to Mohamed VI dated March 14, 2022 was released. First, the Royal Palace of Rabat reports, then comes the confirmation of the sender .
The procedure is the same, but the content is different. The Government of Spain did not carry out a unilateral recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara outside the United Nations. That step has not been taken by the Biden Administration either, despite Trump’s gesture. The United States has not opened any consulates in the territory of Western Sahara.
What Sánchez did was emphatically express his agreement with the Moroccan proposal to the United Nations in 2007 for Western Sahara to become an autonomous region, under international supervision. “It is the most serious, credible and realistic proposal,” the letter said. And, indeed, it represented a shift in the Spanish position.
What Morocco is doing now is putting on the table the Israeli card, blessed by Trump, which could return. They shield the alliance with Israel six days before the Spanish elections. Message to Genoa street. And to Algeria, of course.
