Moroccan Activists Arrested For Protesting Normalization With Israel

Arab nations stand at the most precarious juncture in the last four decades. With their populations rising up for the Palestinian cause, and the monarchs remain under the Israeli boot.

Since October 7th, people in Morocco have been taking to the streets almost every week. Rabat has seen some of the largest demonstrations in recent history, where Moroccans were out in complete solidarity with the people of Gaza.

Morocco has seen some of the largest demonstrations in recent history, and the King has been pressured to rescind the normalization deal with Israel, as the Zionist entity engages in a textbook case of genocide against the people of Gaza. By signing the Abraham Accords in 2020, Moroccan King, Mohammed VI violated his country’s commitment under the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002, of not recognizing Israel, until a separate Palestinian state was created. 

Due to intense domestic pressure, the Moroccan regime also participated in the Arab Islamic Summit held in Riyadh earlier this month which rejected Israeli claims of the right to self-defense and demanded an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Several protests were organized in Salé, Tangier and Casablanca on Sunday, November 26th, in solidarity with the Palestinian people and Gaza with the demand for a permanent ceasefire. Several activists belonging to the Front Against Normalization with Israel were participating in marches in solidarity with the Palestinian people and Gaza. People waved Palestinian flags proudly and shouted slogans in support of the people of Gaza.

Moroccan police assaulted and arrested activists who were demanding an end to the normalization of ties with Israel in the city of Salé. The police attacked and arrested protestors in front of the Carrefour market in Salé.

MOROCCO IS CAUGHT BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE

Since the end of French and Spanish colonialism in Morocco, the Kingdom has maintained its own colony in Northwestern Sahara. Similar to the plight of Gazans, Sahrawis struggle under a brutal dictatorship of the Moroccan regime.

After every victory, the Moroccan football team waved the Palestinian flag at the FIFA World Cup, but Moroccan fans remained silent and often combative when the question of Western Sahara was discussed.

Morocco's occupation of the Sarhawis has been greenlit for decades by the US and its allies, especially France. The plight of the Sarhawis is in some measure worse than that of the Palestinians. There is some importance and focus given to the grave injustices done by the Zionist state over the Palestinians. The question of the oppression of Sahrawis often goes unnoticed entirely.

If Morocco were to come out in opposition to Israel's genocide of Gaza, Morocco would be in hot water with the US-led rules-based order of countries. Current Moroccan loot of Western Sahara would be in jeopardy. Among the first to bring up the occupation and human rights violations in the region will be France and the US.

Human rights records are used as chess pieces when and where convenient for the US and its allies like the EU, Israel or Japan. A similar instance occurred when India refused to condemn Russia for the February 24th invasion of Ukraine. After months of pressurizing India to condemn Russian actions, the US published article after article about the human rights violations of the Narendra Modi regime.

This geopolitical conundrum Morocco faces; along with an end to its own occupation and human rights abuses, Morocco also faces a boycott of international trade. Much of the northwestern Saharan coast is rich in resources. Morocco generates a majority of its export income from their colonial exploits of the region.

CONCLUSION

While it is appreciated that Arabs in Morocco stand with Palestinians, the geopolitical reality of the country makes it impossible for Morocco to take any meaningful opposition to the genocide in Gaza. The numbers in the streets protesting is a welcome gesture of solidarity, but the results will remain bleak unless there is a danger of a collapse of the Moroccan monarch, which realistically is impossible.

My personal opinion is both the occupation of Western Sahara and of Palestine must end. Moroccans must look in the mirror. Many anti-zionist jews around the world denounce Israel, Moroccans must also denounce the illegal occupation of Western Sahara and of the Sahrawi people.

The reason I wanted to write about this topic is even in independent left-wing media, the main reason for Moroccan complacency with Israeli war crimes has not been explored~ Nuno Marques.

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