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Morocco Seeks Normal Ties with Algeria, Says King

Photo published on the Moroccan armed forces Facebook page shows the deployment of soldiers to reopen the Guerguerat crossing
Photo published on the Moroccan armed forces Facebook page shows the deployment of soldiers to reopen the Guerguerat crossing
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Morocco Seeks Normal Ties with Algeria, Says King

Photo published on the Moroccan armed forces Facebook page shows the deployment of soldiers to reopen the Guerguerat crossing
Photo published on the Moroccan armed forces Facebook page shows the deployment of soldiers to reopen the Guerguerat crossing

King Mohammed VI said on Saturday Morocco hopes for a return to normality and open borders with Algeria amid severed diplomatic ties.

Borders between the Maghreb region's two most populous nations have been kept closed since 1994, despite repeated calls by Morocco in recent years for their reopening.

Algeria unilaterally cut ties with Morocco in 2021 and halted the flow of a gas pipeline to Spain via Morocco. It later banned all Moroccan aircrafts from crossing its airspace.

Morocco considers the territory its own, but the Algerian-backed Polisario front wants to establish an independent state there.

"I pray to Almighty God for things to return to normality, and for the opening of borders between the two neighbouring, sister countries and peoples," said Morocco's king in a speech, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, the Dominican Republic has announced recognizing Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara, Rabat's foreign ministry said on Saturday.

The Dominican Republic's position was expressed in a letter by its foreign minister Roberto Álvarez, Morocco's foreign ministry said in a statement.

The Dominican Republic's stance aligns it with the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, which opened a consulate in Western Sahara last year.

Winning support for its rule over Western Sahara has been the ultimate goal of Moroccan diplomacy.

Some 28 other states, mostly Arab and African, have opened consulates in the territory as tangible proof of their support for Rabat.

Earlier this month Morocco won Israel's recognition of its sovereignty claim over the territory, following a similar move by the United States in 2020. Algeria has strongly criticized Israel's move.

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Israeli Defense Minister Says He Will End Detention without Charge of Jewish Settlers

Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli Defense Minister Says He Will End Detention without Charge of Jewish Settlers

Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)
Palestinians look at damaged cars after an Israeli settlers attack in Al-Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024. (Reuters)

Israel’s new defense minister said Friday that he would stop issuing warrants to arrest West Bank settlers or hold them without charge or trial — a largely symbolic move that rights groups said risks emboldening settler violence in the Israeli-occupied territory.

Israel Katz called the arrest warrants “severe” and said issuing them was “inappropriate” as Palestinian militant attacks on settlers in the territory grow more frequent. He said settlers could be “brought to justice” in other ways.

The move protects Israeli settlers from being held in “administrative detention,” a shadowy form of incarceration where people are held without charge or trial.

Settlers are rarely arrested in the West Bank, where settler violence against Palestinians has spiraled since the outbreak of the war Oct. 7.

Katz’s decision was celebrated by far-right coalition allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. National Security Minister and settler firebrand Itamar Ben-Gvir applauded Katz and called the move a “correction of many years of mistreatment” and “justice for those who love the land.”

Since Oct. 7, 2023, violence toward Palestinians by Israeli settlers has soared to new heights, displacing at least 19 entire Palestinian communities, according to Israeli rights group Peace Now. In that time, attacks by Palestinian militants on settlers and within Israel have also grown more common.

An increasing number of Palestinians have been placed in administrative detention. Israel holds 3,443 administrative detainees in prison, according to data from the Israeli Prison Service, reported by rights group Hamoked. That figure stood around 1,200 just before the start of the war. The vast majority of them are Palestinian, with only a handful at any given time Israeli Jews, said Jessica Montell, the director of Hamoked.

“All of these detentions without charge or trial are illegitimate, but to declare that this measure will only be used against Palestinians...is to explicitly entrench another form of ethnic discrimination,” said Montell.