Thousands of demonstrators flooded the streets of the Moroccan capital Sunday to protest against a new US Middle East peace plan which the Palestinians says favors Israel.
Carrying Palestinian flags, the demonstrators, including local politicians, Islamist sympathizers and trade unionists, marched in Rabat chanting “Long Live Palestine.”
They called for a boycott of American products, denouncing the United States as “enemies of peace” and chanted “Palestine is not for sale.”
Some of the demonstrators, who wore red-black-green-white scarves in the colors of the Palestinian standard, torched an Israeli flag and spoke against any attempt by Morocco “to normalize” ties with Israel.
Israel and Morocco opened “liaison” offices in each other’s countries in the mid-1990s but Rabat closed them after an escalation of Palestinian-Israeli violence in 2000.
Last month US President Donald Trump unveiled a Middle East plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinians which the Palestinians have rejected saying it is biased in favor of Israel.
Under the plan, Israel would retain control of the disputed city of Jerusalem as its “undivided capital,” and annex settlements on Palestinian lands. Palestinians however want all of east Jerusalem to be the capital of any future state.
The plan has also been rejected by the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation – two bodies in which Morocco is a prominent member.
After Trump unveiled the plan, the foreign minister of Morocco, a key US ally, said Rabat “appreciates the constructive efforts for peace deployed by the US administration for a durable solution in the Middle East.”
Nasser Bourita went on to reiterate that Morocco’s position is to support the creation of an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.
