RABAT, Morocco (AP) – White House chief adviser Jared Kushner led an Israeli delegation to Morocco on Tuesday for the first known direct flight since the two countries agreed to establish full diplomatic ties earlier this month , as part of a series of US intermediation normalization agreements with Arab countries.
Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, oversaw the diplomatic push that led the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco to normalize relations with Israel in historic agreements that also brought them major favors from Washington.
As part of the agreement, Morocco, which is home to a small but centuries-old Jewish community and has long received Israeli tourists, has gained US recognition for its 1975 annexation of the disputed Western Sahara region., which is not recognized by the United Nations.
The US decision to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara has drawn criticism from the UN, as well as American allies in Africa and beyond. African observers said they could destabilize the wider region, already fighting Islamist insurgencies and migrant trafficking. Former US Secretary of State James Baker, who was sent to the UN in Western Sahara, called it “an astonishing withdrawal from the principles of international law and diplomacy.”
Israel has traditionally supported the UN position and did not say whether it will join the United States in recognizing Moroccan control over the area.
Kushner was joined by the head of the Israeli delegation, National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat. The two men were expected to meet with Moroccan King Mohammed VI and other high-ranking officials.
Delegations were expected to re-establish low-level relations between Israel and Morocco, which existed in the 1990s, and sign several cooperation agreements, including the establishment of direct flights, said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat.
“The goal is to move the relationship from a low level to full diplomatic relations,” he said. He said there was no firm timeline for the process.
Adam Boehler, executive director of the US International Development and Finance Corporation, said he expects the visit to bring huge business benefits, bringing an existing relationship to light.
“We’ve done a lot of things about investing in Morocco,” he said. “They are a gateway to Africa, they have been a great ally for the United States, they have an excellent investment climate. So, I think you’ll obviously see a billion-dollar memorandum coming out of this, but also some announced individual investments. “
Prior to Israel’s founding in 1948, Morocco was home to a large Jewish population, many of whose ancestors migrated to North Africa from Spain and Portugal during the Spanish Inquisition.
Today, hundreds of thousands of Israeli Jews are pursuing their descendants to Morocco, and a small Jewish community, estimated at several thousand people, continues to live there.
In the 1990s, Israel and Morocco established low-level diplomatic relations, but Morocco closed its representative office in Tel Aviv after the outbreak of the second Palestinian uprising in 2000. Even so, the two countries maintained good contacts. behind the scenes, and between 30,000 and 50,000 Israelis continue to visit Morocco each year.
On asphalt in Israel, Kushner said he hoped the delegation’s visit would “pave the way for another warm peace between Israel and Morocco,” indicating emerging links between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
Ben-Shabbat, whose family immigrated to Israel from Morocco, said that “history is written before our eyes.”
Israelis from all walks of life celebrated normalization agreements after decades in which their country was shunned by the Arab world because of its still unresolved conflict with the Palestinians. Saudi Arabia, a regional power with close ties to Morocco, has tacitly supported the normalization agreements and could be next.
The agreements, called the “Abraham Accords” after the biblical patriarch revered by Muslims and Jews, were a major achievement of the Trump administration’s foreign policy. President-elect Joe Biden welcomed the agreements even though he promised to pursue various policies in the region, including the US return to Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers.
But the agreements are all with countries that are geographically distant from Israel and that have played a minor role, if any, in the Arab-Israeli conflict..
Critics say they came at a high price. The agreement with the United Arab Emirates paved the way for the controversial sale in the US of F-35 stealth fighter jets in the Gulf country. Sudan has been removed from the US list of sponsors of terrorism, paving the way for much-needed US and international aid, but dividing the Sudanese as it negotiates a fragile transition to democracy.
The agreement with Morocco is a major obstacle for those in Western Sahara who have fought for independence and want a referendum on the future of the territory. The former Spanish colony the size of Colorado, with an estimated population of between 350,000 and 500,000, is believed to have considerable offshore oil deposits and mineral resources.
The agreements also contributed to the severe isolation and weakening of the Palestinians by eroding a long-standing Arab consensus that recognition of Israel should be granted only in exchange for concessions in the peace process.
The Trump administration provided unprecedented support to Israel by moving the US embassy to the disputed Jerusalem, abandoning US opposition to West Bank settlements and recognizing Israel’s annexation to the Golan Heights, which it confiscated from Syria in the 1967 war.
The Trump Mideast plan, written by Kushner, overwhelmingly favored Israel and would have allowed it to retain almost all of East Jerusalem and up to a third of the West Bank. Israel conquered both territories in the 1967 war, and the Palestinians want them for their future state – a position with broad international support.
Critics say the US’s recognition of Israeli control over the Golan and Moroccan control over Western Sahara undermines a basic principle of international law – a ban on seizing territory by force. Proponents say the deal recognizes the reality on the ground and seeks to drive away old enemies in the past.
Biden opposes annexation and has vowed to take a more equitable approach to the Middle East conflict, including restoring Palestinian aid and pushing for renewed negotiations.