Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov announced, Friday, that Moscow welcomes the process of normalizing relations between Israel and Arab countries, but considers that this should not be at the expense of the Palestinian people.
[caption id="attachment_186184" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]
Mikhail Bogdanov[/caption]
Bogdanov said in press statements "A positive thing is that Arab countries are building bridges with Israel. We can only welcome that. We have good relations with Israel and with Arab countries.”
“This move is directed against Iran, and it is natural that this is not at the expense of the interests of the Palestinian people so that they do not forget that the Palestinian issue is still unresolved,” the Russian official added.
Iran denounced the Moroccan-Israeli normalization, describing it as "a betrayal and a stab in the back of Palestine."
On Thursday, US President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Morocco have agreed to fully normalize diplomatic relations, while the United States agreed to recognize Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara.
The Israeli national airline El Al announced that it was preparing to open direct flights with Morocco.
Morocco would be the fourth country after the UAE, Bahrain and Sudan, which recently announced reaching agreements to normalize relations with Israel through American mediation.
In the meantime, Russia condemned Trump's decision to recognize Morocco's sovereignty over Western Sahara, considering it contrary to international law.
“This is a violation of international law," Russian news agencies quoted Bogdanov as saying on Friday.
He added that this decision does not respect "the UN Security Council resolutions.”
The question of the status of Western Sahara is a subject of contention between Morocco and the Sahrawi separatists.
The Polisario Front, a Sahrawi independence movement, is calling for a referendum for self-determination under the auspices of the United Nations, while Morocco, which controls more than two-thirds of these vast desert lands, proposes an autonomy plan under its sovereignty.
Bogdanov pointed out that Moscow considers the establishment of relations between Morocco and Israel "necessary to establish ties, especially since there has always been a large Jewish community in Morocco and historical and human contacts have been preserved."
Read More:
https://see.news/sahara-10facts-history-sovereignty/
Follow the latest news on Google News
