Morocco postpones Al-Naqab Summit until after summer
The Moroccan Foreign Minister cites "provocative and unilateral acts" for the postponement decision.
Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita on Friday announced the postponement of a summit gathering the signatories to the so-called "Abraham Accords", which had been planned in Morocco this summer.
Bourita pointed out that the decision to postpone the so-called Al-Naqab Summit came as a result of agenda issues and an unfavorable political climate of "provocative and unilateral acts" that "undermine peace efforts in the region."
Following Tuesday's shooting operation that killed four Israeli settlers in the illegal "Eli" settlement, Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government approved on Wednesday the immediate planning for 1,000 "housing units" in the settlement.
In a statement, Netanyahu's office said the decision was reached by the occupation's Prime Minister, Security Minister Yoav Gallant, and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Last week, Smotrich confirmed the government’s intention to approve the construction of 4,5000 "housing units" in occupied West Bank settlements
Netanyahu's government had recently announced its decision to hasten the process of approving illegal settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, in addition to giving Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich even more authority to approve new construction of illegal settlement projects.
Under then-US President Donald Trump's administration, the Israeli occupation, UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco signed in 2020 the "Abraham Accords", under which they normalized ties.
Two days ago, an Israeli diplomat confirmed that Morocco had decided to cancel hosting the second version of the Al-Naqab Summit for the fourth time, in response to the illegal Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.
Last week, Israeli media reported that Morocco decided to postpone the meeting, which is a multilateral forum that includes Egypt, the United States, the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and the Israeli occupation.
According to Israeli media, the meeting was originally scheduled to take place last March, but it was postponed several times.
Ahmed Wehman, the head of the Moroccan Observatory Against Normalization, told Al Mayadeen earlier that the meeting's naming is misleading, underlining that the Moroccan people refuse to host this meeting in their country, as they consider the Palestinian cause a national issue par excellence.
It is noteworthy that in early June, dozens of Moroccans marched in the capital, Rabat, to protest against the visit of the Speaker of the Israeli occupation Knesset, Amir Ohana, to the country. Protesters raised slogans denouncing the normalization of relations between Morroco and "Israel".
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