NYC mega menorah for ‘high’ holy day NEW ISRAEL BOOST
Morocco will be 4th Arab ally this year
President Trump on Thursday announced Morocco will be the fourth Arab country this year to recognize Israel as part of his administration’s diplomatic efforts.
In exchange for Morocco recognizing Israel, the US is recognizing Moroccan ownership of the Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony that has an Algerianbacked rebel movement.
“Another HISTORIC breakthrough today! Our two GREAT friends Israel and the Kingdom of Morocco have agreed to full diplomatic relations — a massive breakthrough for peace in the Middle East!” Trump tweeted.
He added: “Morocco recognized the United States in 1777. It is thus fitting we recognize their sovereignty over the Western Sahara.”
Trump spoke with Moroccan King Mohammed VI on Thursday before the announcement.
In September, Trump hosted representatives of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates at the White House as they normalized relations with Israel. Sudan agreed to normalize relations with Israel in October. A senior administration official told reporters on a Thursday call that “Israel and Saudi Arabia coming together and having full normalization at this point is an inevitability.”
Egypt was the first Arab country to recognize Israel, in 1979, followed by Jordan in 1994. An additional country with a large number of Arabic speakers, Chad, has had on-and-off relations with Israel. Regarding recognition of Moroccan ownership of the Western Sahara, Trump tweeted: “Today, I signed a proclamation recognizing Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara. Morocco’s serious, credible, and realistic autonomy proposal is the ONLY basis for a just and lasting solution for enduring peace and prosperity!”
Morocco, across the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain, formerly was home to a large number of Jewish residents who moved en masse to Israel after it was founded in 1948.
Western Sahara is a large and sparsely populated region that Spain owned until 1975, when it was divvied up between Morocco and Mauritania, which later relinquished its claims. The self-declared Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which is backed by Algeria, controls about a fifth of the territory, with control marked by a large sand berm.
Trump son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner has led the push for Arab states to recognize Israel.
The senior Trump administration official told reporters on a Thursday call that US recognition of Morocco’s territorial claim was “recognizing the inevitability of what will occur” and may “break the logjam” in the long-frozen conflict.