(Photo by U.S. Embassy Jerusalem via Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0 DEED)
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On May 30, 2024, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a controversial slip-up involving the Western Sahara in an interview with French outlet LCI. During the interview, Netanyahu briefly pointed to a map to make a point about how small Israel is in comparison to the highlighted ‘Arab World’ surrounding it. The map, however, left the Western Sahara region unhighlighted, a territory Morocco illegally occupied in 1975 and has claimed as its own ever since.
With Morocco highlighted and the Western Sahara that it has annexed unhighlighted, many citizens in the North African nation have interpreted Netanyahu’s gesture as an insult – one citizen wrote on social media, “[f]or me and those who share my opinion, it doesn’t matter whether it was intentional or not. We know that those who are capable of killing children are not incapable of dividing a map.”
Israel’s recognition of Western Sahara as Moroccan territory was central to re-establishing relations with Morocco in 2020. As part of the Abraham Accords, organized by the United States, Morocco agreed to normalize—or re-establish—diplomatic ties with Israel. It did so alongside several other Arab countries, such as Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, in exchange for certain strategic compromises involving exclusive trade deals and territorial claims. For Morocco, this included promises from both the United States and Israel to recognize its sovereignty over the contested Western Sahara.
Though Israel’s Foreign Ministry has since apologized for what it refers to as Netanyahu’s “unintentional mistake,” earlier news footage from News9 of his office in June of 2023 showed a map that did not include Western Sahara as part of Morocco. With public support in Morocco for maintaining relations with Israel sharply decreasing due to its ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, these diplomatic errors point to the growing divide between state and civil society in Morocco because of Israeli-Moroccan relations.
The Competing Claims over the Western Sahara
The conflict surrounding Morocco’s claim over Western Sahara has roots in the colonial area. During the broader European colonial “Scramble for Africa” in the late 1800s, Spain and France agreed that France would colonize the territory that is now Morocco and that Spain would administer the neighbouring region of Western Sahara.
After decades of colonial rule, anticolonial organizations such as the Istiqlal Party began to form in the mid-1940s and advocate for Moroccan independence. After several years of protests and tensions between them and the French administration, The Kingdom of Morocco became independent from France in 1956.
For the Western Sahara, the decolonization process was more complex. Both Morocco to the north and Mauritania to the south had ties to what was then the “Spanish Sahara,” with trade routes and cultural connections to the region that dated back centuries. Using these claims as justification, both countries separately urged Spain throughout the 1960s to grant this territory to them.
In November 1975, the Moroccan government forced Spain into a decision about the territory by coordinating the march of hundreds of thousands of unarmed Moroccan civilians into Western Sahara. This highly publicized, nonviolent march came one week after Moroccan officers had secretly crossed into Saharan territory on October 31st. A week later, Spain signed the Madrid Accords alongside Morocco and Mauritania, agreeing to temporarily grant the two countries two-thirds and one-third, respectively, of Western Sahara territory.
The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic or Morocco’s Sahara?
As Spain continued to hold onto the Spanish Sahara into the 1970s, Sahrawi students in Morocco began to call for establishing an independent republic in the Western Sahara. These students eventually organized into an organization known as the Polisario Front in 1973, whose goal was the national liberation of an independent Western Sahara.
Despite Morocco and Mauritania’s claims, international bodies, including the UN and International Court of Justice, ruled that the Sahrawi people had the right to independence and self-determination. Consequently, the Polisario Front declared the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) the legitimate government of the Western Sahara in 1976.
With Morocco looking to annex and incorporate the territory into its borders, the two parties began armed conflict throughout the mid-to-late 1970s in what is now referred to as the Western Sahara War. Though Mauritania was also initially a part of this fighting, a coup d’etat in 1978 led to a ceasefire and recognition of the Sahrawi right to rule the territory. In response, Morocco immediately claimed the remaining one-third of Western Sahara that was once Mauritania’s, escalating the conflict.
This escalation caused significant hardship for the local Sahrawi population, displacing hundreds of thousands and leading to a prolonged humanitarian crisis. Fighting continued until 1991 when Morocco and the Polisario Front signed a ceasefire that promised a referendum on Western Sahara’s independence in the following years.
Normalization – An Ongoing Battle over the Palestinian Question
Since Morocco and Israel’s 2020 diplomatic re-establishment, their deal has become precarious. Morocco, historically opposed to establishing relations with Israel due to its colonial founding, human rights abuses, and occupation of Palestinian territories, had supported the Palestinian Liberation Organization and participated in the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.
Throughout history, the Moroccan population has also been overwhelmingly supporting Palestinian statehood. Since 2020, however, Israel’s violence against Palestinians and its illegal annexation of the Occupied Palestinian Territories has rapidly increased, making a deal that was already unpopular among Moroccan citizens even more widely condemned.
When Hamas carried out its attack on Israel on Oct. 7 in response to these conditions and the possibility of another Israeli normalization deal with Saudi Arabia, Moroccan officials expressed condemnation of both Hamas and Israel’s acts of violence. Meanwhile, Moroccans took to the streets in numerous protests, voicing their clear support for Palestinian resistance against colonial rule while also criticizing their country’s support for normalization.
Within the context of Israel’s ongoing genocidal campaign in Gaza and continued territorial expansion into the occupied Palestinian Territories, Morocco’s new relationship with Israel is potentially at risk due to public discontent. As trade with Israel has increased by upwards of 64 percent over the past five months, popular support for diplomatic ties has decreased from 31 percent in 2022 to as low as 13 percent this year.
Despite this growing divide, Morocco has maintained a relatively neutral stance. King Mohammad VI stressed “dialogue and negotiations” as “the only way to achieve a comprehensive and lasting solution to the Palestinian question.” He hosted international forums to address the conflict while asserting the Palestinian right to independence.
As Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza enters its tenth month, civilian pro-Palestine sentiments in Morocco threaten to resurface and challenge the Abraham Accords. Broad pro-Palestinian sentiment among Moroccans continues to put pressure on the government to reconsider its relationship with Israel, further complicating the agreement.
The Realities of Military Occupation – Linking the Western Sahara to Palestine
“There is a total similarity between what is happening in the Western Sahara and Palestine; the only difference is geography,” said Mohammed Elbaikam, a Western Sahara-based activist, in an interview for Middle East Eye.
In condemning Israel’s military occupation while still maintaining its diplomatic ties, Moroccan foreign and domestic policy appear inconsistent. Not only is the country conducting its policies toward Israel in contrast to the desires of its citizens, but it is doing so while maintaining its occupation of the Western Sahara.
Despite promising the United Nations that an independent referendum on the region would be held as part of its ceasefire deal with the Polisario Front in 1991, this has yet to happen. Disagreements regarding the structure of a potential Saharan government and who would be considered a citizen eligible to vote in the referendum have brought this process to a standstill.
Morocco continues to deny all claims that it is an occupying power. It argues that since it is the only governing body in 80 percent of the territory, its current plan of autonomy rather than independence, known as the “Baker Plan,” is more applicable than the UN’s. Additionally, most outside attempts at offering support or recognition to the Polisario Front as the representative of Western Sahara are met with disapproval from Morocco. Officials frequently dismiss the group as “extremists” or “Algerian-backed separatists.”
While maintaining relations with Israel remains unpopular in broader Moroccan society, no such disagreement exists between the government’s claim over the Western Sahara. Additionally, Netanyahu’s error has not yet resulted in renewed domestic discussions surrounding the territory’s status. Rather, Moroccan civil society has mainly used his error as a means to criticize continued relations with Israel.
Tensions in Morocco over Relations with Israel Continue to Grow
Despite public backlash to Netanyahu’s misstep surrounding the Western Sahara conflict, it has not yet forced Morocco into backtracking its agreement with Israel. As the Moroccan state continues to pursue a relatively mild policy towards Israel, its citizens demand more action taken against Israel. With a lack of respect for Palestinian sovereignty over their own territory and Morocco’s claim over the Western Sahara, Israel’s actions continue to divide the Moroccan populace from their government.
Just as this situation highlights the delicate balancing act of normalization processes with Israel, it also emphasizes the Moroccan state’s control over the Western Sahara, which goes against the consensus of international law. As Sahrawi activists attempt to draw parallels between their own experiences of occupation and those faced in Palestine, Netanyahu’s high-profile error may provide more visibility to the Sahrawi cause.
Edited by Majeed Malhas
