Lapid to Visit Morocco to Open Israeli Diplomatic Mission

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid (AFP)
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid (AFP)
TT

Lapid to Visit Morocco to Open Israeli Diplomatic Mission

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid (AFP)
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid (AFP)

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid is planning to visit Morocco next month after a 20-year rupture in relations between the two countries.

The Times of Israel said that this would be the first visit to Rabat by an Israeli foreign minister.

Lapid had made a similar "historic" visit in late June to the UAE to open the Israeli embassy in Abu Dhabi and the consulate in Dubai.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said that Lapid's visit to Morocco would take place on August 11 and 12, during which the Israeli diplomatic mission in Rabat will be officially inaugurated.

The Times of Israel confirmed that Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita would also visit Israel at the invitation of Lapid to open his country's mission in Tel Aviv.

"After my trip to Morocco, Minister Bourita will come to visit Israel to open missions here," Lapid said at a Yesh Atid faction meeting in the Knesset last week.

The Foreign Ministry Director-General, Alon Ushpiz, visited Morocco three weeks ago, delivering Bourita the written invitation from Lapid.

The Israeli Foreign Minister stressed in his letter that restoring relations between the two states was a historical milestone. He also expressed his desire to make progress in bilateral cooperation between Israel and Morocco in trade, technology, culture, and tourism.

Lapid said the invitation showed that establishing diplomatic and direct relations between the two countries and their citizens is a "top priority" for Israel.

The announcement comes seven months after the two sides normalized their relations, in an agreement brokered by the United States, as part of a wave of normalization agreements between several Arab countries and Israel.

A week ago, the first direct commercial flight from Tel Aviv landed in Marrakesh, carrying one hundred Israeli tourists.

The two countries will link direct flights between Tel Aviv, Marrakesh, and Casablanca to attract 50,000 Israeli tourists to Morocco by the end of the year.

Morocco is home to the largest Jewish community in North Africa, with a population of 3,000 people. About 700,000 Jews of Moroccan origin live in Israel.

Morocco aspires to attract 200,000 Israeli tourists by 2022.

Also this month, a Moroccan air force plane landed in Israel's Hatzor Air Base, reportedly to take part in a multinational Israeli Air Force exercise later this month.

Israel and Rabat only exchanged diplomatic offices instead of embassies, and they maintained close official relations, but Morocco suspended relations after the second Palestinian intifada in 2000.



EU Urges Immediate Halt to Israel-Hezbollah War

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, meets with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, meets with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
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EU Urges Immediate Halt to Israel-Hezbollah War

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, meets with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, meets with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)

Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell called for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war while on a visit to Lebanon on Sunday, as the group claimed attacks deep into Israel.  

The Israeli military said Iran-backed Hezbollah fired around 160 projectiles into Israel during the day. Some of them were intercepted but others caused damage to houses in central Israel, according to AFP images.  

A day after the health ministry said Israeli strikes on Beirut and across Lebanon killed 84 people, state media reported two strikes on Sunday on the capital's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.

Israel's military said it had attacked "headquarters" of the group "hidden within civilian structures" in south Beirut.

War between Israel and Hezbollah escalated in late September, nearly a year after the group began launching strikes in solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas following that group's October 7 attack on Israel.

The conflict has killed at least 3,754 people in Lebanon since October 2023, according to the health ministry, most of them since September.  

On the Israeli side, authorities say at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians have been killed.  

Earlier this week, US special envoy Amos Hochstein said in Lebanon that a truce deal was "within our grasp" and then headed to Israel for talks with officials there.  

In the Lebanese capital, Borrell held talks with parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, who has led mediation efforts on behalf of ally Hezbollah.

"We see only one possible way ahead: an immediate ceasefire and the full implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701," Borrell said.  

"Lebanon is on the brink of collapse", he warned.  

Under Resolution 1701, which ended the last Hezbollah-Israel war of 2006, Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only armed forces present in the southern border area.  

The resolution also called for Israel to withdraw troops from Lebanon, and reiterated earlier calls for "disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon."