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Rabat – US President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in law, Jared Kushner, is expected to fly to Morocco as part of his “multiple-nation visit” to the Middle East in the coming days.
The Associated Press quoted a few diplomats who appeared to claim that Kushner is set to visit a number of countries in the Middle East to “push Arab-Israli rapprochement” after the UAE and Israel sealed a peace treaty to normalize ties.
Jared Kushner will visit Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel, along with Morocco, the diplomats said.
In addition to Kushner, the three diplomats also expect Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to make separate visits to the region.
Pompeo is expected to fly to Israel on Sunday, with other scheduled visits to Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, the UAE, and Sudan.
The diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, insisted, however, that the two US envoys’ “itinerary has not yet been finalized or publicly announced.”
They indicated that the officials are not expecting “announcements of immediate breakthrough.” Rather, the visits are aiming to “finalize at least one, and potentially more, normalization deals with Israel in the near future.”
Morocco’s position
Morocco’s government has been studiously dismissive of normalization rumors, with Rabat repeatedly calling for a two-state solution to end the Palestinian conflict. Over the years, the country has been also promoting a solution that would enable Palestinians to live in dignity and in full protection of their right to territorial sovereignty and self-determination.
In the absence of such a solution, Morocco has insisted it will not accept any compromises that would undermine the “just Palestinian cause.”
The prospective visit, if true, will not be Jared Kushner’s first diplomatic trip to Morocco.
In May 2019, King Mohammed VI hosted an iftar, the Muslim fast-breaking meal, in honor of Trump’s son-in-law whose visit coincided with Ramadan 2019.
The visit came amid the Trump administration’s efforts to garner support for the president’s “deal of the century” agenda in the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Unending rumors
During the visit, international media was rife with suggestions that Kusher’s trip mainly aimed to secure Morocco’s support for Trump’s controversial “peace plan.”
But the allegations were mostly unsubstantiated, and Morocco strongly denied any discussions of “normalization” or Trump’s “peace deal” during Jared Kushner’s visit.
At the end of the visit, Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs told the press on June 7 that Morocco “does not know yet of the consent of any peace plan and will express its position when it will be informed about the details of the initiative.”
Bourita emphasized that the Kushner’s visit was only to discuss “bilateral relations and developments in the Middle East.”
In September of last year, Head of Government Saad Eddine El Othmani said that Morocco and King Mohammed VI have stated their “clear position that all attempts to undermine the status of Jerusalem are unacceptable.”
The UAE-Israel normalization deal has considerably divided opinion in the international community.
In the Arab world, a marginal number of countries, including Oman, have welcomed the UAE-Israel agreement. For its part, Saudi Arabia has set the creation of an independent Palestinian as its condition for normalization with Israel.
As the cycle of rumors and last-minute developments show no signs of abating, there still remains an overwhelming consensus in the Arab world that normalization if off the table without guarantees for Palestinian self-determination.
Last week, a number of Moroccan writers and intellectuals boycotted a prestigious Emirati literary prize over their profound disapproval of the UAE-Israel Normalization. Moroccan academic Abderrahim Jairan said: “Palestine is a red line and any normalization with the zionist entity … should be rejected.”
