Moroccans, including activists and ordinary people, took part in large-scale protests in the cities of Oujda, Berkane, Ben Slimane, Beni-Mellal and Oulad Teima.
The demonstrators chanted vociferous anti-Israel slogans, calling for an end to normalization of relations between Rabat and Tel Aviv and voicing their support for the Palestinian cause.
The police, however, foiled a similar protest by pro-Palestinian groups in the capital Rabat on Monday, using brute force, according to reports.
The demonstrations protested under the banner of “The Moroccan Front to Support Palestine and against Normalization”, denouncing recent bonhomie between the Israeli regime and Morocco.
They also condemned the visit of Benjamin Gantz, the minister of military affairs of the Israeli regime, to Morocco and rejected any collaboration with “the enemies of the Palestinian people.”
The pro-Palestine demonstrators said any cooperation with the Tel Aviv regime constitutes a threat to Morocco and the whole region.
Gantz visited Rabat last week, his first visit to one of the Arab states that normalized ties last year, during which the two sides signed a military agreement and a pact that would see Israel sells drones and weapons to Morocco.
In a statement, Gantz said that the agreement was “very significant and will allow us to exchange ideas, enter joint projects and enable Israeli military exports here.”
The Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, called it “unprecedented and disgraceful”.
“The agreement between Morocco and Israel will jeopardize regional security, and will give the occupying regime the opportunity to escalate their attacks against the Palestinian nation, and to infringe upon the security of African people,” Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for Hamas, wrote in a Twitter post.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee also denounced formalization of security cooperation between the North African state and the Tel Aviv regime.
“We hoped that the Kingdom of Morocco, which chairs the al-Quds Committee, would not take this dangerous step in light of the racist measures practiced by Israel against Palestinian people, its disregard of all peace agreements, its rejection of negotiations and the [so-called] two-state solution, and its imposition of a fait accompli policy,” it said in a statement.
Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan signed agreements to normalize relations with Tel Aviv in 2020 as part of the so-called Abraham Accords, brokered by the previous US administration.
The normalization deals have sparked widespread protests in these countries, pointing to the overwhelming divide between the rulers and the people.
The normalization deals have also been condemned by all Palestinian political factions, who have termed it a betrayal of their cause.
Monday’s protests coincided with the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, an annual day dedicated to expression of solidarity with the oppressed people of Palestine.
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