clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

Morocco bans anti-normalisation protest

December 15, 2020 at 11:27 am

Security forces block an avenue in front of the parliament building to stop a demonstration against normalising relations with Israel in Rabat, Morocco on 14 December 2020 [FADEL SENNA/AFP/Getty Images]

Authorities in the Moroccan capital, Rabat, have refused to authorise an anti-normalisation demonstration that was scheduled to take place yesterday outside parliament, local sources have said.

Six Moroccan associations issued a joint statement condemning the decision as a “dangerous step”.

The statement said that “the official Maghreb, Arab and African regimes provide a free service to the Zionist entity, at a time when imposing international sanctions and isolating it have become necessary”.

The signatories are: the Réseau Démocratique de Solidarité avec les Peuples, the Moroccan Coalition for Human Rights committees, the Moroccan Association for the Support of the Causes of the Nation, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS), the Moroccan Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (MACBI), and the Committee of Solidarity with the Palestinian People in Al-Bayda.

On Thursday, Moroccan King Mohammed VI announced that Rabat would sign a peace deal with the occupation state of Israel and initiate official bilateral and diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv “as soon as possible”, according to a statement issued by the royal court.

READ: Morocco to include Jewish history and culture in its school curriculum

The Moroccan monarch emphasised that this step “does not affect in any way Morocco’s permanent and sustained commitment to defend the just Palestinian cause, and active engagement for the establishment of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.”

Morocco and Israel started low-profile relations in 1993 after the conclusion of the Oslo Accords, yet Rabat suspended its ties with the occupation in 2000 after the outbreak of the Second Intifada.