Israel's FM Visits Morocco Officially before End of July

Yair Lapid, Israel's Foreign Minister announced that he is going to visit Morocco before the end of July.

"Reuters", a news agency, has quoted statements by the Israeli minister, as saying this visit is a historic occasion."

He confirmed that his Moroccan counterpart, Nasser Bourita, would return the visit to inaugurate the Moroccan diplomatic mission in Israel.

Earlier this month, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita received an official invitation to visit Tel Aviv from his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid.

Lapid tweeted: "Today, Director-General of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Alon Ochbis, conveyed a letter in my name to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Morocco, Nasser Bourita, with an invitation to make the first-ever official visit of a Moroccan foreign minister to Israel."

Lapid added that the resumption of full diplomatic relations between Israel and Morocco under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI is a historic milestone in the relations between the two peoples."

However, former Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on phone with Morocco’s King Mohammed VI on Friday, December 26, for the first time since the two countries agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations earlier this month.

The two leaders congratulated each other on the agreement brokered by US President Donald Trump, which included the White House agreeing to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara region.

“During the “warm and friendly” conversation, Netanyahu extended an invitation for King Mohammed VI to visit Israel. The two agreed to continue communications in order to advance the normalization agreement in the weeks ahead,” the Prime Minister’s Office said, according to the Times of Israel.

“The leaders congratulated each other over the renewal of ties between the countries, the signing of the joint statement with the US, and the agreements between the two countries.”

The Moroccan king’s royal office issued a statement saying that, in his conversation with Netanyahu, saying: “The consistent, unwavering, and unchanged position of the Kingdom of Morocco on the Palestinian issue and the pioneering role of the kingdom in promoting peace and stability in the Middle East.”