The event had already been postponed four times since March. On Tuesday June 20, Morocco notified its Israeli partner that the Negev Forum, a meeting under American sponsorship of ministers from four Arab countries having relations with Tel Aviv, which was to be held this year in the Cherifian kingdom, was once again postponed. According to a source in the Hebrew State’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rabat expressed its “dissatisfaction with Israeli construction in the settlements”. On Sunday, Israel announced that it wanted to facilitate the construction of more than 4,500 homes in settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law.
However, in view of the parade of Israeli officials in Rabat in recent weeks and the participation of IDF soldiers in maneuvers on Moroccan soil, the normalization between the two countries, sealed on December 10, 2020, seemed to be on the right track. After six decades of unofficial cooperation, except for a brief episode of normalization after the Oslo accords, Israeli tourists are flocking to the kingdom and cultural, military and commercial partnerships are regularly announced…
The relationship between the two countries, nourished by a large community of Moroccan origin in Israel (472,800 according to Tel-Aviv, 800,000 according to Rabat), seems much deeper than that established with the other Arab countries which have signed peace or normalization with Israel. But this idyll seems to be slowed down politically and diplomatically. The respective liaison offices in Tel Aviv and Rabat have not been transformed into embassies. Anxious to spare a mainly pro-Palestinian public opinion, the Moroccan ministers do not make the trip to the other side of the Mediterranean. And the Negev Forum is constantly being postponed.
The “Abraham” agreements
After a first edition held in the eponymous desert, in southern Israel, in March 2022, the Jewish state, its new partners in the so-called “Abraham” agreements (Morocco, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates) , as well as Egypt and the United States, were to meet in March in Morocco. But the host country dithers, citing possible tensions between Palestinians and Israelis during the holy month of Ramadan, then, in May, the Israeli strikes in Gaza or the proximity of the dates to the Eid-el-Kébir holiday, which begins June 28. A name change was also considered to make the forum more inclusive.
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