Moroccan draft agreement with "Israel" hits parliament

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The Moroccan House of Representatives announced presenting a draft law that agrees on air services between "Israel" and Morocco, making it the first agreement between the two parties.

The Moroccan parliament said that "the office of the House of Representatives received, last Monday, from the government, a draft law to approve the agreement on air services between Morocco and 'Israel', signed in Rabat on August 11, 2021."

According to the agreement, "the aviation authorities of each contracting party shall provide the aviation authorities of the other party, with information related to the movement of transport performed on the services approved by its airlines." The agreement also includes clauses related to "mutual exemption from customs duties, inspection expenses, and taxes that are not related to the cost of services provided onboard the aircraft."

"Israel" launched its first direct flights to Morroco in July 2021. 

On October 16, the Moroccan government signed two agreements with "Israel" in air services, culture, and sports, in the first meeting since Aziz Akhannouch was appointed as Prime Minister. 

In November, Israeli occupation Security Minister Benny Gantz and Morocco's Minister in charge of defense administration, Abdellatif Loudiyi, signed a memorandum of understanding on security cooperation between the two sides.

Morocco, "Israel", and the US signed a tripartite agreement on December 23, 2020, which included several memoranda of understanding to establish relations between Morocco and the Israeli occupation under Washington's sponsorship.

Voices against normalization

Earlier, Abdul Samad Fathi, the Deputy Coordinator of the Moroccan National Front to Support Palestine and Oppose Normalization, said that "Israel" regards Morocco as the gateway to its greedy ambitions in the Maghreb region and the rest of Africa, and it wants it to wage war on its behalf in the area.

Fathi stressed in a post on his official Facebook page that the visit of the Israeli Security Minister to Rabat and military normalization with the Israeli entity will have dangerous repercussions on both the national and regional levels, in addition to being a clear display of immorality towards the Palestinian cause.

For its part, the Moroccan Observatory against Normalization considered Gantz's visit to Rabat a scandal and a historical precedent, as well as a decline in the regime's political and diplomatic decision-making.

Morocco is the fourth Arab country to agree to normalization with the Israeli occupation during 2020, after the UAE, Bahrain, and Sudan.