Moroccan owners refuse to rent space for Israeli mission in the Middle East News

Almost six months after it was deployed to Morocco, the head of the Israeli mission is still working from his hotel.

Nearly six months after it was deployed to Morocco, Israel continues to work with the head of the North African country’s mission from its hotel as it tries to find premises for its office.

David Govrin was appointed head of the Israeli liaison office in January after Rabat normalized relationships with Israel last year, becoming the fourth Arab country in the last two years for that. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain normalized relations with Israel in September last year, followed by Sudan earlier this year.

Prior to that, Egypt and Jordan were the only countries to sign peace treaties with Israel in 1979 and 1994.

In exchange, the administration of former US President Donald Trump agreed to recognize Morocco’s claim On the disputed region of Western Sahara.

According to Moroccan and Israeli media, people in the capital Rabat have refused to rent to the Israeli emissary.

“The agency hired to look for accommodation for Govrin found a suitable residence in a residential complex in a high-rise region of Rabat, and Govrin agreed and thought the apartment had the necessary security measures,” Assahifa’s website reported last week.

“However, the problem was that the owners renounced the category as soon as the Israeli diplomat found out who owned their property.”

The newspaper quoted a Moroccan source as saying that the same thing had happened “in other residential areas in the area”.

Former Egyptian ambassador Govrin Rabat is staying at a hotel, the newspaper said.

Announcements of normalizing relations with Israel in December sparked a stir in Morocco, as several protests were held to denounce the movement.

Morocco responded to critics by saying that the kingdom’s relations with Israel were “already normal” and that the movement was “resuming ties”.

“From our point of view, we are not talking about normalization, because relations were normal. We are talking [re-formalising] we had relations between countries because there have been relations all along. They have never stopped, ”Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said in an interview with Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper last year.

Thousands gather #Arabat #Morocco for protesting against Israeli military action #Gaza #ajagaza #GazaUnderAttack pic.twitter.com/H8i96oCdTq

– Inasse Yaacobi (@inasseyaacobi) July 20, 2014

Recently, thousands of Moroccans went to cities across the country to denounce the bombing of the besieged Israeli Gaza Strip in the last 11 days, demanding that the government’s Justice and Development Party close its Israeli liaison office. About 250 Palestinians were killed when rockets fired from Gaza killed 12 people in Israel.

Rights groups have called on Israel to carry out a “disproportionate attack” on Gaza, which has been under Israeli blockade of land, sea and air since 2007.

Last month, UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said Israel’s attacks on Gaza could be “war crimes” if it is shown to be disproportionate.

The UN Human Rights Body has joined launch an international open research In the 11-day conflict between the Israeli-Palestinian groups in Gaza, and in the “systematic” abuses in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and within Israel.