RABAT: Thousands of Moroccans on Sunday again took to the streets of their capital to call for an end to their country’s ties with Israel, which they denoun­ced for “genocide” in Gaza.

In late 2020, Morocco established diplomatic ties with Israel under the Abraham Accords brokered by the United States which saw similar moves by the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

As part of the deal, Rabat received Washington’s recognition of its claim to sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.

Since the Israeli attack in Gaza began on October 7, several large-scale demonstrations in the North African kingdom have called for the abrogation of the normalisation deal.

“Normalisation is treason,” and “Stop the massacre,” read banners protesters carried in front of Morocco’s parliament in the centre of Rabat.

Journalists estimated more than 10,000 people joined the rally, some of them carrying an immense Palestinian flag.

The crowd size matched that of a similar November protest in Morocco’s commercial capital Casablanca.

“We see 24 hours a day bombardments, children killed, nearly 30,000 dead and nothing stops it. The genocide continues,” said Abdelhakim Ziani, 25, a medical student who joined the rally and wants an end to ties between Morocco and Israel.

“We can’t continue selling and buying from these genocidal people,” he said. The demonstration was organised by leftist parties and Islamist movements.

Morocco has officially denounced what it said was “flagrant violations of the provisions of international law” by Israel in its war against Hamas, but has not given any indication that normalisation with Israel would be undone.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2024