Kushner Joins Flight Marking ‘Israel’-Morocco Normalization

By Staff, Agencies

The first direct commercial flight from the “Israeli” occupied Palestinian territories landed in the North African kingdom Tuesday to mark the latest US-brokered diplomatic normalization deal between the entity and an Arab country.

US President Donald Trump's son-in-law and White House advisor Jared Kushner was on board along with “Israeli” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's National Security Advisor Meir Ben Shabbat.

The US-“Israeli” delegation was welcomed at the airport by Moroccan officials, ahead of a program that includes a meeting with King Mohammed VI at the royal palace, and a visit to the grave of Mohammed V.

The trip aimed to showcase the Trump administration's achievements in Middle East diplomacy, weeks before Trump is replaced at the White House by President-elect Joe Biden.

Morocco became the third Arab state this year, after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, to normalize ties with the “Israeli” entity under US-brokered deals, while Sudan has pledged to follow suit.

Both sides expected to sign agreements paving the way for direct air links, and on water management, connecting their financial systems and on a visa waver arrangement for diplomats, said an “Israeli” official source.

Up to now, up to 70,000 “Israeli” tourists a year have visited Morocco, but they have had to travel via third countries.

As part of the Morocco-“Israel” deal unveiled earlier this month, Trump fulfilled a decades-old goal of Rabat by backing its contested sovereignty in the disputed region of Western Sahara.

The move infuriated the Algerian-backed pro-independence Polisario Front, which controls about one fifth of the desert territory that was once a Spanish colony.

Negotiations included pledges to open a US consulate in Western Sahara, and for US investment which Moroccan media described as "colossal".

The “Israeli” entity and Morocco are meanwhile due to reopen diplomatic offices.

Morocco closed its liaison office in Tel Aviv in 2000, at the start of the second Palestinian Intifada [Uprising].

Mohammed VI has said Morocco will remain an advocate for the Palestinians.

Alongside the announcement of the resumption of relations with the “Israeli” entity on December 10, the king assured Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas of Morocco's "continued and sustained commitment to the just Palestinian cause".

But the Palestinians – like the Polisario – have cried foul and condemned the normalization announcement between Rabat and the “Israeli” entity.

Two pro-Palestinian demonstrations were banned last week in Rabat, and about 30 groups and far-left parties Tuesday denounced the visit by the "Zionist delegation", demanding Morocco "resist normalization".

Morocco has sought to temper the anger by insisting that relations with the “Israeli” entity are not new.

"The new agreement is merely the formalization of a de facto partnership between Morocco and ‘Israel’ dating back 60 years," said Moroccan media boss Ahmed Charai.