This is the first time that a commercial flight from Israel has landed on Moroccan soil. Tuesday, December 22, the plane of the Israeli company El Al landed in Rabat, marking the first act of the recent restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The son-in-law and adviser to outgoing US President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner, and Benyamin Netanyahu’s national security adviser, Meir Ben-Shabbat, were on board for a few-hour visit to the kingdom.
They are expected this evening at the royal palace in Rabat for a royal audience with Mohammed VI, which should lead to the signing of several bilateral agreements. “These are investments in the sectors of agriculture, water management, civil aviation and of course cooperation on the issue of visas”, specifies an official in Rabat. Moroccan Tourism Minister Nadia Fettah Alaoui told Israeli TV that the kingdom is ready to welcome 200,000 Israeli tourists a year, via direct air links, suggesting visa waivers for Israeli citizens.
The visit comes a few days after the announcement, on December 11, of the resumption of relations between Morocco and Israel, in exchange for Washington’s recognition of the kingdom’s sovereignty over Western Sahara. The agreement provides for the reopening of diplomatic offices in Tel Aviv and Rabat as well as the development of bilateral economic cooperation with the Hebrew state.
“Beyond the diplomatic factor, the agreement with Israel opens up encouraging economic prospects for Morocco. At a time when the kingdom is going through a very severe economic crisis, Israeli investments and American aid provide a glimpse of a clearing up ”, underlines a Moroccan observer. The United States, which has announced the opening of a consulate in Dakhla, plans to launch a multi-billion dollar investment program aimed at strengthening the banking sector, tourism and renewable energy. “We did a lot of behind-the-scenes investment scouting in Morocco. It is a door to Africa, they are great allies of the United States ”, told AFP, during the flight, the executive director of the American development agency DFC, Adam Boehler.
Rabat never cut ties with Israel
Morocco, which closed its liaison offices in the early 2000s after the outbreak of the second Intifada, has never cut ties with Israel. “It must be admitted that Morocco did not wait for normalization to maintain relations, whether commercial or diplomatic. The Israelis continued to invest in Morocco, even after the official split “, confides a diplomat. According to statistics recently published by the Moroccan media, these exchanges would have represented 149 million dollars between 2014 and 2017. A bulletin from the France-Israel chamber of commerce also confirms that Morocco is among the five most important African customers of Israel. .
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