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Morocco’s balancing act on Israel and Palestine

Moroccans protest against the "deal of the century" and want the government, which recently took possession of Israeli spy drones, to do more to aid the Palestinian cause.
Moroccans wave the Palestinian flag during a demonstration against the US Middle East peace plan in the capital Rabat on February 9, 2020. - Morocco has warming but quiet relations with Israel, although they do not enjoy formal diplomatic ties. Israel and Morocco opened "liaison" offices in each other's countries in the mid-1990s but Rabat closed them after an escalation of Palestinian-Israeli violence in 2000. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP) (Photo by FADEL SENNA/AFP via Getty Images)

On Feb. 9, the broad, sunny boulevard running through the center of Rabat, Morocco, overflowed with protesters. Crowded between newly whitewashed facades and an imposing parade of palm trees, they numbered well over 10,000 (one attendee estimated tens of thousands). 

Adorned with Palestinian keffiyehs and images of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque, this mass of Moroccans had come out to condemn US President Donald Trump’s “deal of the century” peace plan that Palestinians see as inflammatory.

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