Guest Post: Morocco Calls for End to Israeli Attacks

Guest Post: Zineb from Morocco
Random from Kate: This article is the opinion of the student below. I do not want to get involved in an extensive argument around Israel-Palestine, I instead wish to give you one perspective from a North African, which you might not get to hear too often.

Zineb: Morocco has strongly condemned Israel’s ongoing military attacks against the Gaza Strip and called on the UN Security Council to put an end to it “in the shortest possible time and without conditions.”

A Palestinian woman shouts anti-Israel slogans on the rubble of her home after the latest Israeli airstrikes in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, November 16, 2012

The Permanent Ambassador Representative of Morocco in the United Nations, Mohamed Loulichki, gave a speech at the Security Council meeting held in November 2012. He stated that Israel's latest aggression “is all the more reprehensible as it could last longer and spread to other parts of the occupied Palestinian territory.” The Ambassador stressed also “the dangerous implications of this new aggression in terms of destruction and targeted assassinations, led by the Israeli occupation forces in a region already rocked by other crises.”

Mr. Loulichki further said he feared that this new strategy would distract the international community from the strategic objective of a speedy resumption of negotiations leading to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East.

Ambassador Representative of Morocco, Mohamed Loulichki, at the UN

Ambassador Loulichki reaffirmed the position of the Kingdom emphasizing the goals of the Al-Quds Committee whose chairman is the Moroccan King Mohammed VI. The committee aims to preserve the character of the holy city of Al-Quds (Arabic name for Jerusalem), and protect what they view as the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people to achieve the existence of a state with Al-Quds as its capital.

Morocco took the initiative to organize an urgent meeting in order to discuss the situation in Gaza and was the first member of the Security Council to "strongly condemn the Israeli aggression."

Random Zineb thoughts: Morocco is one of only two monarchies present in Africa nowadays but its political system is carefully evolving from a strong centralized monarchy to a parliamentary system. Its freedom level according to the freedom house is quite low and Morocco itself still has numerous human rights issues to resolve, in addition to the international border dispute with the Polisario Front over the territory of Western Sahara. However, it is a country that supports democracy and freedom of speech. This is the reason why Morocco is attempting to end the Israeli attacks, given that the apartheid regime of Israel denies about 1.7 million people in Gaza their basic rights, such as freedom of movement, jobs that pay proper wages, and adequate healthcare and education.