Morocco condemns Israeli police over Al-aqsa mosque

Morocco condemned Wednesday the intervention of Israeli police in the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, and denounced "the aggression and terror of the faithful in the middle of the holy month of Ramadan.

The Cherifian kingdom stressed "the need to respect the legal, religious and historical status of Al-Quds (Jerusalem) and the Holy Places and to avoid all practices and violations that are likely to destroy all chances for peace in the region," according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Israeli police announced Wednesday that they had "arrested more than 350 people" during violent clashes overnight after the police intervened inside one of the world's most revered Muslim places of worship to dislodge worshippers.

Rabat "reiterates its rejection of this kind of practice which only complicates and exacerbates the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and undermines efforts to ease tensions and restore confidence," the Moroccan statement concluded.

Morocco, an ally of Israel, has tried to regularly reiterate its commitment to the Palestinian cause under the leadership of King Mohammed VI, who chairs the Al-Quds Committee, responsible for "preserving the Arab-Muslim character" of Jerusalem.

This does not prevent it from developing an all-round partnership with Israel, focused on military and security cooperation, since the normalization of bilateral relations in December 2020 within the framework of the Abraham Accords, an agreement between Israel and several Arab countries negotiated by the United States.

However, the rise to power in Israel of ultra-nationalist currents and the violence in the occupied territories have become an obstacle to this rapprochement.

Although militant mobilization has weakened, the Palestinian cause continues to arouse immense sympathy among the Moroccan population.

Continued clashes in Jerusalem and the West Bank could ultimately undermine the foundations of the Abraham Accords.

In fact, a Negev summit, a forum that was to have brought together the heads of U.S., Israeli, Egyptian, Moroccan, Emirati and Bahraini diplomacy in March in Morocco, has been postponed indefinitely, according to Moroccan media.