Rabat – Today, thousands of Moroccans have responded to Palestine’s call, pilgriming to Rabat this morning to take part in the demonstration decrying US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
“Jerusalem is ours!” The chants can be heard miles away from Mohammed V avenue, where more than 50,000 Moroccans staged a mass demonstration against Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
The traffic was completely blocked in downtown Rabat, where only the colors of the Palestinian and Moroccan flags can be seen flying high above the heads of marching protesters.
“The people want to free Palestine!” the demonstrators were heard shouting, behind their megaphones, some with their bare vocal cords. Young and old, liberal and conservative, men and women, all chanted as one, their shoulders covered in the symbolic Palestinian Keffiyehs.
The demonstration coincided with the celebration of the International Day for Human Rights, giving voice to Moroccans’ outrage over the US administration’s decision, while warning of the serious repercussions of this “irresponsible and immature” move on peace and stability in the MENA region and the rest of the world.
The march took the historic avenue Mohammed V as a starting point, to untie the place across the parliament precinct. Organized on the initiative of the National Action Group to Support Palestine and the Moroccan Association of Solidarity with the Palestinian struggle, this event has seen the participation of some 100,000 people according to its initiator, while other estimates put forward the figure of about 50,000 participants.
US President Donald Trump has, in a dramatic break with his predecessors, recognized on Wednesday Jerusalem (Al Quds) as the capital of Israel, and ordered his administration to immediately begin the move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, angering Palestinians and a wave of reprobation in the Middle East and beyond, even from longtime US allies such as the United Kingdom and France.
With this decision that will mark his mandate, the 45th President of the United States isolates himself on the international scene and takes the risk of sabotaging the timid hopes for resumption of peace negotiations, stalled for three years.
The status of Jerusalem is at the heart of these negotiations: while Israel has always ruled out the possibility of sharing the holy city, the Palestinians are claiming the eastern part of the city as their own, while both parties insist on making it the capital of their respective states.
The international community has never recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and considers East Quds as an occupied territory. Israel claims all of Jerusalem, West and East, as its “eternal and indivisible” capital since it annexation in 1967.
