Moroccans Protest Arab Nations Normalizing Ties with Israel
Despite a government ban on large gatherings to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, scores of demonstrators protested outside the Moroccan Parliament to denounce Arab countries agreeing o normalize ties with Israel.
Israel on Tuesday signed historic diplomatic pacts with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in a U.S.-brokered deal. Morocco was reported to be among other Arab countries considering a similar move, though the prime minister rejected the idea last month.
Protesters in Morocco's capital of Rabat Friday waved Palestinian flags, decrying the deals as "treason" and chanting "Palestine is not for sale."
The Palestinians view the pacts as a stab in the back from their fellow Arabs in the Gulf and a betrayal of their cause for a Palestinian state. Israel and Bahrain's agreements have been condemned by many across the Arab world.
The protesters in Rabat also burned a mock Israeli flag. Dozens of police officers watched the scene from a distance.
Organizers interrupted the chanting occasionally to urge participants to wear masks and to respect social distancing rules.
"The normalization deals are an attack on the Palestinian people and their cause," human rights activist Abdelhamid Amine told The Associated Press.
"We are calling on the Moroccan government not to follow suit and we urge it not to surrender to the Zionist and imperialist pressure like other Arab countries," said Amine, former president of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights and one of the rally organizers.
Last month, Moroccan Prime Minister Saad Eddine El Othmani said the kingdom rejects any form of normalization with Israel.
"The Moroccan monarch, government and people will always defend the rights of the Palestinian people and Al-Aqsa Mosque," he said in a meeting with his Islamist party Justice and Development Party (PJD).
20 September 2020, 17:35
11
They don't want diplomatic relations with Israel, but in normal years they are more than willing to have tens of thousands of Israeli-passport holders (a lot of them ex-Moroccans) fill their hotels, souks, shops and all their country.
They don't want Israel but they make sure that Kosher meals are available on Royal Air Maroc flights to and from Europe.
21 September 2020, 03:39
11
You forgot to say: Mexicans back to Mexico, Hondurans back to Honduras, you bigot.
22 September 2020, 11:05
00
Are you OK in sending all the Lebanese and Syrian Arabs living in South America and Europe back home? Or at least start with the Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan.
21 September 2020, 12:17
02
Bighjohn: History can't be twisted. history can tell you exactly what is the origin of Arabs so called Palestinian. When Arabs believed in stones and burried allive their daughters and prayed to Allelat Al Uza and Al Manat, Israel already existed and believed in one God. As for Apartheid Israel, we all see how Palestinian are treated in Jordan, Syria and specially Lebanon. how free they are. what a joke.
22 September 2020, 11:03
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What about - Americans back to Europe?
By the way, in case you didn't know, ethnic cleansing would not leave 2 million Moslems living in Israel. Would not have an Arab Judge on the Supreme Court as well as many on lower courts, would not have 15 members of the parliament, would not have Ambassadors and other senior persons in the diplomatic service, would not have senior officers in the army and police, would not have thousands of Doctors, Nurses, Lawyers, etc. etc. Do any Moslem or Arab States have this many minority persons in such senior positions? Of course not.
22 September 2020, 11:09
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Maybe there are Moroccans that don't want peace with Israel, but they all want to occupy the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic and keep the Saharouians in concentration camps in the desert.
