https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/12/politics/trump-morocco-analysis-intl/index.html
On Thursday, Morocco became the fourth Arab state this year to announce it would establish relations with Israel. It was another diplomatic win for the Trump administration, with US President Donald Trump tweeting that it was "a massive breakthrough for peace in the Middle East!"
Setting
aside the hyperbole -- Morocco and Israel have long had a quietly
amicable relationship -- the Moroccans extracted a high price from the
US: recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the long-disputed territory
of Western Sahara.
After nearly four decades of lobbying for that outcome, success came relatively cheaply, with the Moroccan Foreign Ministry pledging vaguely to "resume diplomatic relations as soon as possible" with Israel.
Intissar
Fakir at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace says "the
Kingdom was able to extract the maximum gain from the US."
In the case of Morocco, neither the UN nor the European Union recognize its sovereignty over the Western Sahara, whose largely Sahrawi population have fought for self-determination for four decades under the banner of the Polisario Front. The UN and European Union describe the Western Sahara as a "non-self-governing territory."
Moroccan security forces control about three-quarters of it.
Trump tweeted on Thursday that Moroccan sovereignty would bring about "enduring peace and prosperity," but only last month the Polisario Front ended its three-decade truce with Morocco.
Yes no bigger headache for a Biden administration than another mideast country having friendly relations with Israel. How in the world can they pressure and threaten Israel when they don't have the convenient stick anymore to wave at them?
ReplyDeleteWow a total misreading of the article. A bad deal is a bad deal
ReplyDelete