Yesterday, American and Israeli delegations arrived in Rabat to formalize the deal that establishes diplomatic ties between Morocco and Israel. The agreement brings economic and security benefits to both countries, but, Ilan Berman explains, it also has wider implications:
[Yesterday’s deal] positions the longtime U.S. ally Morocco to take on a more sizable role in North African security. Morocco’s strategic location on the continent, situated near geopolitical hotspots like Mali and Nigeria, makes it a natural candidate for such a function. Yet, for years, the uncertain legal status of the former Spanish territory of the Western Sahara, which the kingdom has administered since the 1970s, has prevented Morocco from playing a larger role in the security of its neighborhood. Now, however, the U.S. recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara that accompanied normalization with Israel has paved the way for the kingdom to take on a more meaningful role in regional policing.
It’s a job for which Morocco is well-suited. The country’s tolerant, inclusive interpretation of Islam has long stood in contrast to more extreme strains of the religion found elsewhere in the region. And over the past decade, Morocco has become more outspoken and assertive in promoting this worldview, establishing clerical institutions and international partnerships designed to promote the Moroccan “model” throughout Africa—and beyond.
Since its announcement earlier this month, the Moroccan-Israeli agreement has garnered its fair share of criticism from detractors who have lamented a shift in the political status quo in the Western Sahara, a sidelining of the Palestinians, and assorted other alleged shortcomings. These critics, however, miss a crucial point. At the end of the day, the new normalization deal better aligns Rabat with emerging regional trends in the Middle East, and makes it far more useful to Washington.
Read more on Newsweek: https://www.newsweek.com/israel-morocco-deal-triumph-trump-biden-too-opinion-1556215