Moroccan army chief of staff Belkhir El Farouk arrived in “Tel Aviv” on September 13 to take part in an international conference held by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) where nine chiefs of staff of other countries will be attending. 

This is the first visit by an Arab army chief of staff to the Israeli entity. It has provoked Palestinians and Moroccans who are against normalization with “Tel Aviv”.

Saeed Bsharat, a Palestinian expert in Israeli affairs, voiced his anger at this provocative visit that “harms Morocco before Palestine”.

"This visit, firstly, harms Morocco before Palestine, especially as it gave a high-frequency morale boost to the occupation army, which is suffering from a crisis within its army, a crisis within its society, a political crisis, and frustration," Bsharat told Al Mayadeen English.

"But unfortunately, Morocco came to give the occupation this huge official leverage that the occupation does not deserve, instead of giving this leverage to its people first by standing with Palestinians", added Bsharat. He pointed out that Arab countries and Arab people are silent about this visit because "they are preoccupied with their own lives". 

"The Palestinian cause and occupied Al-Quds were removed from the hearts of the Arab people, so they became a legacy from the past to be only praised or provided with some financial support, but they [Arabs] are not concerned whatsoever by what happens to the Palestinians or Al-Aqsa", noted Bsharat.

No military benefits

‏Belkhir held a meeting on Tuesday, September 13, in “Tel Aviv” with Aviv Kohavi, Chief of General Staff of IOF, during which they discussed issues of common interest, including ways to strengthen cooperation between the two armies and the means of expansion to the fields of technology and innovation, according to media reports.

"Before we say this visit is a great betrayal of the Palestinian cause, it was a great betrayal of Morocco and its people, the legacy of Morocco and the Arabness of Morocco", Bsharat told Al Mayadeen English.

"The Palestinian cause today has turned into a lonely battle and Palestinians were totally abandoned, pulling off their thorns alone. It seems that Palestine is liberated while other countries are kneeling before the enemy, as we saw in the official reception at the Ministry of the enemy army compound, which was more of a party for Israel than to celebrate the arrival of the Moroccan military guest", added Bsharat.

Moroccan media said Belkhir "was accompanied by a large military delegation at the instructions of King Mohammed VI to participate in an international conference on defense innovation".

"I am one of the people who does not send messages to Arab rulers or monarchs because they make part of an old secret relationship with the [Israeli] enemy, which has just surfaced”.

"They are part of the project of countries that support the occupation and their interest in staying in power. Therefore, people are required not to remain recipients and hostages of decisions that destroy them, such as the decision of normalization that serves the entity interests", said Bsharat.

"Morocco won't gain military benefits except that it is accepted by Israel, which will support it in international forums in some of its issues in exchange for its supportive stances with the enemy against the Palestinians and Iran. 

"Morocco considers Israel as a gate to the West, thus it must normalize its relation with it", explained Bsharat.

'Failure'

Chama Darchoul, director of the Moroccan Information and Culture Office for Strategic Analysis and Planning said “the citizens of the normalizing states have not benefited anything from normalization deals”. She added that there are internal issues in Morocco behind pushing Belkhir to be in "Tel Aviv".

Darchoul said the visit of Belkhir to "Israel" comes within the framework of consolidating the military normalization after Morocco realized that its "diplomatic and political normalization with Israel had failed due to several pitfalls".

"Or let us say due to the differing visions over the Sahara file, and the so-called tripartite agreement, which sees Morocco normalizing with Israel in exchange for American recognition that the Sahara is Moroccan, but Israel believes that Tel Aviv is not concerned with the American-Moroccan agreement on the Sahara", explained Darchoul. 

"The tension with Algeria, borders maneuvers, the tension over the Sahara issue, Algeria’s intransigence, the Polisario presence, and the tragedy of the Tindouf camps [The Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria ] to expand geographically on Moroccan territory, all this prompt Morocco to join the US-Israel alliance,  in order to search for a new military market too", said Darchoul. 

'Wrong decision'

Abdul-Aziz Samir Al-Najjar, a Palestinian researcher and human rights activist based in Gaza said that Palestinians reject the Moroccan general visit to the Israeli entity. 

"As Palestinians, we reject all forms of normalization with the Zionist enemy, and we are sure that this visit will bring nothing but ruin and destruction to Morocco", Al-Najjar told Al Mayadeen English.

"By taking serious and practical steps as boycotting the state economically and politically for its normalization with the enemy, we can deter the rest of the Arab regimes to avoid normalization", Al-Najjar.

Morocco was the last Arab country to sign a normalization deal with "Israel" in December 2020 in exchange for US endorsement of Morocco's claim to a disputed territory, the Sahara.

"Perhaps Morocco took this step [normalization] to obtain some of the weapons that the Israeli occupation offers as promise to the Arab regimes after normalizing relations" said Al-Najjar.

"Of course, it is a great betrayal of the Palestinian people and every free Palestinian, but Palestinians believe deeply that these actions are personal or within a limited circle of leaders and governments of some Arab countries, to bring personal gains”. 

"The Moroccan king made the wrong decision. We do not believe that there is a Muslim watching the massacres committed against children, women, and the elderly in Palestine and does not lift a finger, yet he normalizes relations with the usurping entity without taking into account the feelings of the Palestinians", concluded Al-Najjar.