Morocco’s Israel Ties Linked to Western Sahara Dispute, Ex-Minister Says

The hostility of Algeria towards Rabat played a key role in pushing Morocco to sign the agreement to normalize its relations with Israel, said Mustapha Ramid, former Moroccan Minister of Justice (2012-2017) during the conference of the Ahmed Raissouni Forum, arguing that the specific constraints of each country can stimulate normalization efforts. He added: "For Morocco, this mainly concerns the issue of the Moroccan Sahara [...] Western powers often exploit internal crises in countries to exert additional pressure."

Under the aegis of the Trump administration, Morocco normalized its diplomatic relations with Israel in December 2020 in exchange for the American recognition of the Moroccanness of the Sahara. This historic rapprochement is at the origin of the deterioration of relations between Rabat and Algiers. The latter unilaterally severed its diplomatic relations with Morocco on August 24, 2021 due to "hostile actions" by the kingdom towards the country. "The Moroccan security services and propaganda are waging a vile war against Algeria, its people and its leaders," had accused Ramtane Lamamra, then Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs. For its part, the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs had regretted this decision, and rejected "the fallacious, even absurd, pretexts that underlie it." "Morocco regrets this completely unjustified but expected decision - in view of the logic of escalation observed in recent weeks," a statement said.

This historic rapprochement also put the ruling party, the Party of Justice and Development (PJD) then led by Saaddedine El Othmani, also head of government, in difficulty. The Islamists have always displayed their opposition to a possible normalization of relations between the two countries. By formalizing this historic rapprochement, the predecessor of Aziz Akhannouch turned against the members of his political formation, but also the Moroccan people committed to the Palestinian cause. As a result, the party lost the September 2021 elections.