BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP?:

A new stage in Israeli-Moroccan relations? (Daniel Zisenwine, September 12, 2003, Israel Insiders)

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom's visit to Morocco last week marked a new development in Israeli-Moroccan relations. Shalom, who met with his Moroccan counterpart, Muhammad Ben Assa, and with King Muhammad VI, was the first senior Israeli to visit Morocco since diplomatic relations with Israel were severed in October 2000. Israeli officials view the visit as an important diplomatic achievement in the current context of Arab-Israeli relations and have expressed the hope that it will lead to renewed diplomatic relations between the two countries.

On the Moroccan side, the visit signaled the possibility of reviving Morocco's role in Arab-Israeli negotiations but also highlighted bilateral relations. Although Israeli-Moroccan ties stand out in the general context of Arab-Israeli relations, they are not without their own constraints and limitations, which are often overlooked. As the two countries prepare to embark on a new diplomatic course, a closer look at this unique relationship seems very much in order.

Morocco remains one of the great hopes for a genuinely Western-oriented, gradually liberalizing Arab state.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 18, 2003 10:04 PM