La Casa Real marroquí desautoriza las críticas del PJD sobre Israel: “Es un precedente inaceptable”

The Moroccan Royal Cabinet issued the following statement to disavow the criticisms made by the Islamists of the Justice and Development Party (PJD) against Israel's incursions in the West Bank:

"First of all: Morocco's position on the Palestinian question is irreversible, and constitutes one of the priorities of the foreign policy of His Majesty the King, Amir Al-Mouminine and Chairman of the Al-Quds Committee, which places it on the same level as the territorial integrity of the Kingdom. This is Morocco's consistent position of principle, which cannot be subjected to political bidding and narrow electoral campaigns.

Second: The Kingdom's foreign policy is the prerogative of His Majesty the King, God help him, by virtue of the Constitution, which the Sovereign exercises in accordance with national constants and the supreme interests of the country, among which the issue of territorial integrity comes first.

Third: The Kingdom's international relations cannot be blackmailed by anyone for any reason, especially in this complex global context. The instrumentalisation of the Kingdom's foreign policy for a domestic partisan agenda is therefore a dangerous and unacceptable precedent.

Fourth: The resumption of relations between Morocco and Israel took place in circumstances and in a context that everyone knows. It is framed by the Royal Cabinet communiqué of 10 December 2020 and the one issued on the same day following the telephone communication between His Majesty the King and the Palestinian President, as well as by the Tripartite Declaration of 22 December 2020, signed before the Sovereign. The living forces of the nation, the political parties, as well as certain personalities and associations working on the Palestinian issue, were informed of this decision, for which they expressed their support and commitment".

A news item published on the website of the Justice and Development Party (PJD) has provoked the umpteenth clash between the Royal Court and the Islamist formation led by Abdelilah Benkirane. "Three martyrs die in Nablus amid calls by resistance factions to intensify confrontation with the occupation", headlined the PJD's media outlet, which functions as an ideological and propagandistic tool at the service of the party in which communiqués, press releases and news related to the party's issues are published. 

On Sunday afternoon, the PJD's media arm published an article on what had happened in the northern West Bank city of Nablus, where a new incursion by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) claimed the lives of three Palestinian activists. The article includes the testimonies of the various Palestinian factions, from Hamas to Islamic Jihad, which are harshly criticising the "Israeli occupation army". The article also reflects the position of the Islamist formation, which is openly opposed to the State of Israel.

The Royal Cabinet came out hours later and issued a statement censuring the Islamist formation's stance. "The general secretariat of the Justice and Development Party (PJD) has recently published a statement containing irresponsible excesses and dangerous approaches concerning relations between the Kingdom of Morocco and the State of Israel, in relation to the latest developments in the occupied Palestinian territories," the statement said, describing Morocco's position on the Palestinian question as "irreversible" despite the normalisation of its relations with Israel. 

"This is Morocco's constant position of principle, which cannot be subjected to political bidding and narrow electoral campaigns," the Royal Cabinet adds in the statement. "The Kingdom's international relations cannot be blackmailed by anyone and for any consideration, especially in this complex global context. The instrumentalisation of the Kingdom's foreign policy for an internal partisan agenda therefore constitutes a dangerous and unacceptable precedent." 

Morocco normalised relations with Israel in December 2020. It did so in the framework of the Abraham Accords, hand in hand with other Arab countries such as the Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan. In Rabat's case, the decision was taken as a bargaining chip to unlock US recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. At the time, the PJD was the country's leading political force and its secretary general, Saadeddine Othmani, was head of government.

Othmani did not resist an agreement endorsed by the palace, namely King Mohammed VI, who is the master of foreign policy by virtue of his constitutional prerogatives. Benkirane, who was Prime Minister between 2011 and 2016, denied any responsibility of the PJD in the deal. "We have supported King Mohamed VI in the national cause. We defend our homeland as we defend the Palestinians. We should not blame Saadeddine Othmani for signing the tripartite declaration," he said on his Facebook account about what he described as a sacrifice to "resolve" the Sahara issue. But the damage to his base had already been done. 

The normalisation of relations with Israel unravelled the Islamist party, which was founded on the principle of defending the Palestinian cause. This was compounded by the wear and tear of having led every coalition government since the 2011 constitutional reform. "If there is one thing that all political movements that end up coming to power have in common, especially when they are structured by a strong ideology, it is the spectre of disenchantment," French political scientist Haoues Seniguer told Saphir News. These reasons led it irreversibly towards the electoral landslide of September 2021. 

The Islamist formation lost a whopping 113 seats in that vote. It went from 125 seats out of 395 to just 12, which led to a massive drain of cadres and militants. Since then, the PJD has been seeking to regain its identity. This was partly demonstrated by the return of Abdelilah Benkirane to the general secretariat after Othmani's resignation. The historic Islamist leader wants to capitalise on the discontent against Aziz Akhannuch's government and resuscitate a party at a low ebb. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to rearm the party in ideological terms, a party that has been moulded after its time in the institutions.

Benkirane and his party want to champion the Palestinian cause. That is why last week they criticised the head of Moroccan diplomacy, Nasser Bourita, for 'defending' the 'Zionist entity' in his talks with African and European diplomats. In particular, the former Prime Minister reproached him for having defended Israel during a meeting with the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi. At the meeting, the Foreign Minister had discussed tripartite regional cooperation and "the opportunities it offers for development between Morocco, the European Commission and Israel". 

Benkirane, co-founder of the Unity and Reform Movement, a religious association affiliated to the PJD that operates as the ideological arm of the party, was blunt: "While the Israeli occupation continues its criminal aggression against our Palestinian brothers, especially in Nablus, the Moroccan Foreign Minister appears as a defender of Israel".

"Since its entry into the House of Representatives in 1997, the PJD has been affected by two contradictory tendencies or logics that permanently separate it. On the one hand, a logic of identity affirmation, i.e. the concern to maintain, at all costs, the integrity of the parent ideology, which in a way feeds the social worldviews - what party executives and activists call "the Islamic referential" - and on the other, a logic of electoral competition, of parliamentary and governmental participation, which requires, by virtue of the specificities of a two-headed power field, compromises, which can give rise to profound tug-of-war, not so much political as ideological," Seniguer explains. "They are sources of lively debate, but also of internal divisions that can lead to irreconcilable positions".