The Moroccan government said, on Wednesday, that it is ready to respond to a petition demanding that it stop normalization with Israel, which human rights activists intend to submit.

This came according to government spokesman Mustafa Pattias, when he answered a journalist’s question at a symposium that followed the weekly government meeting, about the intention of human rights activists to submit a petition demanding a halt to normalization with Israel.

Pattias, who also holds the position of Minister in Charge of Relations with Parliament, said that the government "is ready to respond to the petition and study it."

The petition of proposals or demands submitted to the Government Petitions Committee must be signed by five thousand citizens.

The petition is one of the means available to citizens to demand that the government adopt a public policy or cancel agreements. After submitting it, the relevant government committee is expected to accept or reject it, according to the law regulating petitions.

Patias explained, "Submitting this petition must be done with the interests of his ministry, because he is the one who heads the (governmental) Petitions Committee."

He added, "Petitions are regulated by the 2011 Constitution, which gave this possibility to citizens to express their opinions on development issues, or petitions to draft legislation and laws."

He continued: "I chair the National Petitions Committee, and the petition is supposed to be placed with the committee at the headquarters of the Ministry in charge of relations with Parliament."

He indicated that he would interact with the request, study the petition within the framework of the constitution and regulatory laws, and express the opinion taken by the government in this area.

In turn, Moroccan human rights activist Aziz Hanawi, a member of the petition committee, said: “We expect positive interaction with the petition demanding an end to normalization with Israel.”

In a press conference held by members of the petition committee on Wednesday in Rabat, Hanawi added, “The decision to sever relations with the Zionist entity (Israel) was long overdue, and the time has come to take it in light of the scale of the massacres committed against the Palestinians.”

He pointed out that "the petition that human rights activists intend to present to the government includes about 10,000 citizen signatures."

Many Moroccan cities, including the capital, Rabat, are witnessing solidarity vigils with the Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to an Israeli war since last October 7, in which participants called for severing relations with Tel Aviv, stopping the war, and bringing in aid.

In December 2022, Morocco and Israel resumed their diplomatic relationship with American mediation, in a move that popular sectors and political forces in the Kingdom expressed their rejection of. This was followed by a visit of high-level Israeli officials to Rabat, which stopped with the start of the war on Gaza.

In 2018, the government launched the “Petitions Committee” to receive citizens’ requests and suggestions, with the aim of taking whatever measures it deems appropriate regarding them, within the framework of respecting the provisions of the Constitution and the law.

Anatolia