WASHINGTON: Morocco has agreed to resume diplomatic relations with Israel, becoming the fourth Arab nation this year to recognise the Jewish state under a deal brokered by the US, according to the White House.
US President Donald Trump spoke to Morocco's King Mohammed VI on Thursday and reaffirmed his country's support to Morocco's "realistic autonomy proposal" for sovereignty over the Western Sahara region.
King Mohammed VI agreed to resume diplomatic ties between his kingdom and Israel to expand economic and cultural cooperation, which would advance regional stability, the White House said on Thursday.
Trump reiterated that he, as president, recognised the Moroccan sovereignty over the entire Western Sahara territory.
The Polisario Front -- a Sahrawi rebel national liberation movement -- and the Kingdom of Morocco claim sovereignty over the Western Sahara territory.
The US-Morocco friendship is rooted in our shared belief in the promise of peace, stability and economic opportunity, and has endured since Morocco became the first country to recognise the United States in 1777, the White House said in a readout of the conversation between the two leaders.
"The President reaffirmed his support for Morocco's serious, credible and realistic autonomy proposal as the only basis for a just and lasting solution to the dispute over the Western Sahara territory and as such the President recognised Moroccan sovereignty over the entire Western Sahara territory," it said.
They also discussed cooperation in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, including ways to minimise its economic impact.
They also spoke on critical regional issues of common interest, the White house said.
Morocco has now become the fourth Arab nation to resume ties with Israel.
The development comes as the US is expanding the number of countries under the "Abraham Accords", as part of which the United Arab Emirates and Israel resumed bilateral ties earlier in the year, with a series of trade and technology pacts.
Bahrain and Sudan have followed the UAE, becoming the second and third Arab countries respectively to resume ties with Israel.
Trump's Special Advisor and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, during a conference call with reporters on Thursday, said that "this is the fourth peace agreement that President Trump and his administration have been able to broker in the last four months. This comes on the heels of four years of very, very hard work and very intense diplomacy that has occurred".
As part of this deal, Morocco will establish full diplomatic relations and resume official contacts with Israel.
It will grant overflights and direct flights to and from Israel for all Israelis, he said.
The two countries will reopen the liaison offices in Rabat and Tel Aviv immediately, with the intention to open the embassies in the near future.
They'll be promoting economic cooperation between Israeli and Moroccan companies.
Describing this as a great part of the President's efforts towards bringing peace and stability and understanding in the world, Kushner said that this is a great success that the Abraham Accords have had so far.
"People are seeing the nonstop visitation between Israelis and Arabs and Muslims throughout the world -- going to each other's countries, whether it's going to Dubai or Abu Dhabi or Tel Aviv," he said.
Kushner said that bringing Jews and Muslims and Christians together has been a core focus of the President's efforts.
"That's why he did his first trip to Saudi Arabia, the custodian of the two Holy Mosques; and then Israel; and then Rome, to the Vatican. And that's been a real effort of his," he said.
"If you look back at the last four years when the President came into power, Iran was greatly empowered. You know, they'd just done the terrible JCPOA deal, ISIS was running rampant, all of America's allies in the region felt very alienated, and obviously there'd been a lot of issues that had to be dealt with.
"Now we have peace sprouting in the Middle East. You know, President Trump took a contrarian approach -- one that was different than not just Democrat but also Republican administrations. Just a different approach than the experts had been taking in the region. And the fruits of these efforts have become very apparent, but we also believe that there is a lot more fruits to come in the short, medium and long term," he said.
Senator Lindsey Graham congratulated Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Moroccan Prime Minister Saad-Eddine El Othmani on the historic achievement.
"It is a win-win-win for Israel, Morocco, and the United States," Graham said.
Senator Mike Lee said that this agreement, along with the Abraham Accords, "demonstrates that we are truly living in a historic time for Middle Eastern relations with the West".
Congressman Eliot L Engel, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, welcomed the news.
"At the same time, I am concerned this announcement upends a credible, internationally supported UN process to address the territorial dispute over Western Sahara, which successive administrations of both parties have supported.
"Casting aside legitimate multilateral avenues of conflict resolution only empowers countries like Russia and China to continue trampling on international rules and norms and rewards those who violate borders and the rights of free peoples," Engel said.
Senator James Lankford commended both the nations for taking this step and encouraged other nations to open diplomatic ties with Israel.