Rabat – Polisario and its backers, especially Algeria, received another strong blow, this time from a voice of Palestinian origin, who challenged the separatist group’s attempts to draw a parallel between the Palestinian cause and the Western Sahara dispute.
Rima Hassan, a French Member of the European Parliament, rebuked the Polisario and its long-standing backers. For decades, the Polisario Front has presented itself as a movement of “liberation” to gain sympathy from the international community.
Polisario’s narrative attempted to exploit the Palestinian struggle against oppression and occupation, and project it onto the Sahara question.
Indeed, Polisario’s narrative has been useful among those who lack a comprehensive understanding of the Sahara dispute, its history, and development.
A few advocates continue to support the Polisario Front’s claims, which rest on shaky ground and are tainted by violence and separatist projects that seek to undermine Morocco’s territorial integrity and sovereignty over its southern provinces in Western Sahara.
In her interview with Spanish news outlet El Independiente, a platform notoriously sympathetic to Polisario’s claims, Hassan delivered her stinging rebuke to shut down the separatist group’s attempts.
In the interview, she was categorical that the Sahra dispute and the Palestinian cause are not alike.
“I cannot accept that what the Palestinian people are experiencing is exactly the same as what the Sahrawi people are going through, ” she said.
She explained that Palestinians face a genocidal project that seeks to physically erase its people through relentless bombardment and a clear Western imperialist colonial agenda.
For her, however, the Sahara dispute is a “frozen conflict.”
She also stressed how the International Court of Justice has recognized historical, cultural, and legal ties between Morocco and the Sahara.
Her remarks, of course, sparked outrage and frustration among pro-Polisario advocates and separatists.
A few days following her interview, El Independiente published an opinion piece, criticizing her remarks.
“Rima Hassan asserts that Western Sahara is not a case of Western imperialist colonization. A statement as serious as it is false,” El Indepiente’s opinion said.
The opinion authored by Salim Djellab claimed that the “fact that the Moroccan occupation kills less massively does not make it any less illegitimate or violent.”
Such separatist reactions are only natural, coming from Polisario’s frustrated advocates.. They have long relied on recycling redundant claims online, social media, and in international forums.
Hassan acknowledged in her interview that she was aware similar statements from her could provoke Polisario’s advocates.
She said, meanwhile, that she received support from people on all sides, who understood her message.
The Sahara dispute has long attracted the attention of platforms, which consistently and inexplicably feature pro-Polisario claims and narratives promoted by Algeria’s regime and the separatist group.
The pattern has become increasingly visible and common, particularly amid Morocco’s growing momentum and international support for its autonomy plan — the most productive solution to the Sahara dossier.
Many countries now view the proposal not only as the most credible solution, but also the only viable path to resolve the Sahara dispute.
Key global powers like France and the US support the autonomy initiative but also fully acknowledge Morocco’s sovereignty over its southern provinces.
