Ex-ambassador to Egypt to reopen Israeli mission in Morocco
Qatar FM quashes rumors of normalization with Israel.
By LAHAV HARKOVWhite House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner during a visit with Israeli delegation to Rabat, Morocco(photo credit: US EMBASSY IN MOROCCO/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)
Former ambassador to Egypt David Govrin will head to Rabat in the coming weeks to reopen Israel’s liaison office in Morocco, the Foreign Ministry announced Monday.He will be Israel’s temporary charge d’affaires in Morocco, which joined the Abraham Accords last month.Israel and Morocco secretly shared intelligence for decades, and ties between the countries became official and public in the early 1990s during the Oslo Accords process, though they remained at a low level. The countries exchanged liaison offices at the time. Morocco cut ties in 2000 in response to the Second Intifada.Both countries kept their properties in Tel Aviv and Rabat and plan to reopen offices in the same locations. A Moroccan team has already been in Israel for that purpose.Last week, the Foreign Ministry said former ambassador to Turkey Eitan Na’eh would be Israel’s top diplomat in the United Arab Emirates and will set up Israel’s mission in Abu Dhabi. Na’eh will be the first Israeli diplomat officially stationed in the UAE.Govrin’s and Na’eh’s status as charges d’affaires in the countries that recently normalized ties with Israel is temporary until ambassadors are appointed, which is likely to happen after the next government is formed following the March election.Israel already has a mission in Bahrain, the second country to join the Abraham Accords. It had been operating secretly before relations between the countries became public.But Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said Doha does not plan to join its neighbors in establishing diplomatic relations with Israel, Dohan News reported Sunday.Since the UAE and Israel announced peace in August, there has been speculation that Qatar would eventually join the fold as the Gulf state with the most open ties to Israel. Israel and Qatar are often in contact about the transfer of aid from Doha to Gaza.That speculation intensified following the end of the Saudi, Emirati and Bahraini boycott on Qatar, which was announced last week.
However, Thani said Qatar is still committed to the Arab Peace Initiative, by which Israel must withdraw to pre-1967 lines before Arab states normalize ties.“Qatar believes that if Israel is committed to peace, to end the occupation, [to] the two-state solution and the state of Palestine with east Jerusalem as its capital, and if there is Arab approval, we accept that,” he said.Thani refrained from criticizing the signatories to the Abraham Accords, saying they made “a sovereign decision.”
