Morocco to Continue Working to Resolve Palestinian Cause, Ambassador Says

Morocco will not stop working to advance the settlement of the Palestinian cause, said Moroccan Ambassador to Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Mohamed Ameur on Tuesday. “Morocco will use its diplomatic channels with the State of Israel and its privileged relations with Moroccan Jews to advance the settlement of the Palestinian issue on the basis of a two-state solution, with East Al-Quds as the Palestinian capital,” stressed Ameur, who was speaking at a conference to celebrate the 2nd anniversary of the Abraham Accords, at the Belgian Federal Parliament. The restoration of diplomatic relations is a valuable tool that can help promote peace in the region, improve security and open new opportunities for all, the Moroccan diplomat noted. He added that the resumption of relations between Morocco and Israel constitutes “a peace between states, but especially a peace between peoples, as evidenced today by the intensification of exchanges between the two societies and which involve the intellectual, political, economic and human spheres.” Stressing that Morocco, under the impetus of HM King Mohammed VI, has not ceased to promote and enhance its Hebrew heritage, the ambassador recalled that the Constitution of 2011 recognizes the contribution and the Hebrew influx to the unity of Morocco. The Moroccan Jewish diaspora is the largest in the Arab world, with about one million Moroccan Jews currently living in Israel, who maintain close ties with their country of origin, he continued. According to Ameur, the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between Morocco and Israel is a reactivation of mechanisms that existed and have served for years, often at the request of both protagonists, as a tool for peace and rapprochement. The decision to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries is part of a thousand-year-old history of peaceful coexistence between Moroccans of the Jewish faith and their compatriots of the Muslim faith, he argued, noting that this coexistence found its most powerful illustration in the refusal of the late HM Mohammed V to hand over to the Vichy authorities Moroccan citizens of Jewish faith.