Western Sahara: Trump’s ‘gift’ to Morocco

In exchange for opening ties with Israel, President Donald Trump gave Morocco a “gift” — US recognition of its sovereignty over Western Sahara, said Bruce Maddy-Weitzman, an expert on Israeli-Moroccan relations.

The Tel Aviv University professor said, however, that the kingdom faced domestic opposition for normalising ties with the Jewish state, a move unpopular with some at home.

Maddy-Weitzman said he was surprised about the deal, saying that even though it had “been in the air for a while… I was never sure that it was actually going to happen”.

“This is a gift from the departing American administration… a gift that is central to Moroccan national identity and Moroccan foreign policy,” he told AFP.

“I think the fact that there’s a new administration coming in Washington made it even more important for the Moroccans to nail this down when they could,” he added.

Western Sahara is a former Spanish colony, mostly under Morocco’s control, where tensions have simmered for decades between the kingdom and the Polisario Front independence movement.

The Algerian-backed Polisario Front condemned “in the strongest terms” the move by the outgoing Trump administration to back Moroccan rule over the territory.

It had been “the number one issue” on Morocco’s foreign policy agenda since the mid-1970s, said Maddy-Weitzman, so the US move to recognise its sovereignty over the region was “something very much out of the ordinary”.

– Pros and cons –

The Morocco deal is the fourth normalisation agreement that the US has brokered between Israel and Arab states since August, after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan.

“The fact that these Abraham Accords have been put together and have been unfolding make it easier for Morocco to act because it is a club of monarchies that they are part of so they are not alone in this,” said Maddy-Weitzman.

The US recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara was “a whole new ball game” that would also boost the kingdom’s international standing, he added.

“It reinforces their image in the West as a liberal, tolerant, open, multicultural country that values its Jewish heritage.”

But he said there was a “domestic cost” the kingdom would have weighed before committing to the deal, which will see Morocco reopen a Tel Aviv liaison office it had closed in 2000 at the start of the second Palestinian uprising.

Ever since then, the kingdom had opted to keep relations with Israel “under the radar”, the professor said.

This was because of “domestic opposition” from Islamists, nationalists and people who support the Palestinians.

The agreement could also have ramifications in Israel, which is home to hundreds of thousands of Israelis of Moroccan origin.

Asked if the deal would boost support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party, the professor said: “I think he will benefit from it.”

But “will it make a difference (in an election)? I doubt it. It depends who the other parties are.”

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