Normalization with Morocco warms Israeli hearts
Unlike the normalization deals with Bahrain and with the United Arab Emirates, the imminent deal between Israel and Morocco will be built on centuries of common history and heritage.
Morocco may be the fourth Muslim country to normalize ties with Israel in the past four months, but the Dec. 10 announcement generated a special excitement in Jerusalem and elsewhere in the country. Unlike the Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan, where the Jewish communities are tiny and the history of bilateral relations rather short, Morocco and Israel share decades of contacts and centuries of common traditions and cultural ties.
Speaking at a Hannukah candle-lighting ceremony, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "The people of Morocco and the Jewish people have had a warm relationship in the modern period. Everybody knows the tremendous friendship shown by the kings of Morocco and the people of Morocco to the Jewish community there. And hundreds of thousands of these Moroccan Jews came to Israel, and they form a human bridge between our two countries and our two peoples, of sympathy, respect, of fondness and love."
Morocco established relations with Israel in 1995 — two years after the 1993 Oslo Accords — and the two countries opened liaison offices. When the second intifada broke out in October 2000, Morocco severed its ties with Israel and closed its Tel Aviv office. Israel responded by closing its office in Rabat and bringing home its diplomats. During this short five-year honeymoon, Israeli Foreign Ministers David Levy (of Moroccan origin) and Silvan Shalom (of Tunisian origin) visited Rabat on Morocco's official invitation.
Still, despite the 2000 severing of ties, the two countries maintained contacts and relations on different levels. Israelis can visit Morocco in organized tour groups and some 50,000 Israeli tourists do so each year. Many of them visit Jewish heritage sites and reconnect with their origins. According to some estimates, at least one million people in Israel are of Moroccan origin and an estimated 2,000-3,000 Jews remain in Morocco today. Alongside the tourists, several official delegations visited Morocco over the years, mostly in the framework of international projects and conferences. A delegation from the Trade Ministry, for instance, visited Rabat in 2005 for the fourth ANIMA Investment Network summit organized by the European Union.
