Rabat – As Morocco sends out humanitarian aid shipments to the oppressed people of Palestine, it is important to note that this is not just a recent development, but in fact a small part of humanitarian outreach that dates back to over two decades ago.
As Israel holds steadfast in its assault on the Palestinian people and lands, Morocco has extended a helping hand to the Palestinian population with several humanitarian aid shipments carrying food products, blankets, and medicines.
In fact, Morocco’s contemporary efforts to aid the Palestinian cause reach as far back as the mid-1990s, when Morocco’s late King Hassan II presented the idea of an agency responsible for providing assistance to Palestinian peoples and institutions to the Al-Quds Committee in 1995.
According to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the main goals of the agency are to “to salvage the city of Al Quds Al Sharif” in Jerusalem, to “extend assistance to the Palestinian population and Palestinian institutions in the holy capital,” as well as to “safeguard and restore the Al Aqsa Mosque and other holy sites in the city as well the city’s cultural, religious, cultural and architectural heritage.”
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Leading up to the Camp David Summit — the unsuccessful US-led efforts to put an end to the “Israeli–Palestinian conflict” — Morocco’s recently-throned King Mohammed VI sent Palestine’s former President Yasser Arafat a check of $3 million (MAD 26.5 million). It was to be distributed through the Bayt Mal Al Quds agency.
Following the Israeli-imposed sanctions against the elected Hamas government in Palestine in 2006, King Mohammed VI sent his instructions for the shipment of general humanitarian aid to the occupied territories, as well as MAD 3 million worth of foodstuff through the Mohammed V Foundation for Solidarity.
As the 2008-2009 Gaza War between Israel and Palestine unraveled, Morocco took wounded Palestinian victims in for medical treatment from Egypt, in addition to sending to Gaza additional humanitarian aid.
In November 2012, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched its Operation Pillar of Defense, an eight-day offensive against the Palestinian Gaza Strip. In the wake of renewed violence, Morocco moved quickly to establish a field hospital in the conflict zone. Under royal instructions, Morocco established another medical-surgical field hospital in Gaza in May 2018.
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In the same decade, Morocco sent emergency humanitarian aid twice more: In July 2014, worth $5 million (MAD 44.1 million), and again in May 2018, when the Moroccan King personally supervised the operation. It also established a ministerial action group to defend Al Quds and Palestine the same year.
This leads us to Morocco’s response to the latest Israeli military aggression against Palestine, as the North African country has delivered its second aid shipment — 40 tonnes of food products, blankets, and medicines — some critics still feel like it is not enough, questioning Morocco’s solidarity with the oppressed people of Palestine. But this view ignores the government’s longstanding commitment to the Palestinian cause, which has resulted in both tangible aid, as well as diplomatic and political support.
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