Moroccans protest against Israel normalisation on Land Day

Moroccans protest against Israel normalisation on Land Day
The protests coincided withLand Day, an annual commemoration of the killings of six unarmed Palestinians on March 30, 1976by Israeli forces during protests against land seizures.
2 min read
31 March, 2022
Land Day protests in Rabat (TNA)

Hundreds of Moroccanstook to the streets on Wednesday in30 cities around the kingdom tocondemn the two-year-long normalisation between Rabat and Tel Aviv.

The protests coincided withLand Day, an annual commemoration of the killings of six unarmed Palestinians on March 30, 1976by Israeli forces during protests against Israeli land grabs.

"The protests that took place in 38 Moroccan cities on Wednesday are a reminder that Moroccans will continue their struggle to overthrow normalisation with the occupying state, because normalisation is a danger to ourcountry,” Al Tayeb Madmadh, a member of the Moroccan Front in Support of Palestine and Against Normalisation, told .

In the capital Rabat, protesters stageda sit-in in front of the parliament, wherepolicemen in riot gear surrounded the demonstrators.

The sit-inwas attended by protesters from various political backgrounds, including secular leftists and youth from Morocco’s largest Islamist association, the Justice and Charity Group, which is officially banned by the Moroccan monarchy.

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“Colonisation is terrorism, infiltrators of the Negev,” chanted the protesters. The sit-in took place four days after the Moroccan foreign minister’s participation in the controversial Negev Summit in Israel, where hemet with his Israeli counterpart.

Israel has recently stepped up settlement activity in the Negev region, arresting dozens of Palestinian Bedouin and demolishing their homes.

As the sun set, protestors set fire to the Israeli flag, chanting: “Palestine resists and the regimes bargain,” and “No normalisation, no surrender of the resistance forward."

Just a few metres away from the protest, the Mohammed VI Theatrewas hosting a musical performance by Israeli and Moroccan artists. The Moroccan and Israeli governments have said that they want to normalisecultural relations.

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Land Day's protests in Rabat

The musical's time and place outraged the pro-Palestine protesters, who were aiming to take the demonstration to the theatre's front door. However, police had a heavy presence nearby which prevented this.

Last year, Moroccan authorities banned Land Day protests, just months afterRabat normalised ties with Tel Aviv in a deal brokered by the US.In return, the US agreed to recognise Morocco's sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.

Moroccotouted the deal as a "bold diplomatic move" to gain international recognition of Rabat's "historical right" over the territory. The pro-independence Polisario movement,which is backed by Algeria has contested Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara for decades.

Some pro-Palestinian Moroccan movements havethe state's justifications for normalisation, including the Islamist Justice and Development party (PJD).

The party'sprevious leader, Saad Eddine El Othmani, who was Morocco's prime minister until 2021personally attended the signing ceremony of the Abraham Accords