Morocco faces the dilemma of striking a balance between defending its "strategic" alliance with Israel without abandoning the Palestinian cause , which still enjoys popular support, after the most right-wing government in Israel's history came to power.

This problem arose recently when King Mohammed VI rebuked the Islamic Justice and Development Party (parliamentary opposition), in response to a position in which he condemned the bias of Moroccan diplomacy in favor of Israel.

In a statement, the royal court described this behavior as "irresponsible" and included "serious fallacies" on the part of the party, which accused Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita of "defending the Zionist entity in some African and European meetings."

The royal palace confirmed that Morocco's position on the Palestinian issue is "irreversible."

Rabat also regularly confirms its commitment to the Palestinian cause, which "is one of the foreign policy priorities of His Majesty the King, Chairman of the Jerusalem Committee," which is concerned with preserving the Islamic character of the city.

In the context, the Moroccan foreign minister said, "The kingdom condemns and always rejects every irresponsible act and every act that could be inflammatory or have a negative impact," commenting on the recent statements of an Israeli minister from the extreme right, in which he denied the existence of the Palestinian people.

Moroccan journalist and writer Jamal Amiar, who wrote a book on "Morocco, Israel and Moroccan Jews," considers that "establishing relations with Israel while supporting the Palestinian cause is not a contradiction, if we are defending the two-state solution."

Morocco defends the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, alongside the State of Israel.

Rabat normalized its diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv in December 2020, within the framework of the Abraham Accords, which included several Arab countries under the auspices of the United States.

In exchange, Rabat obtained recognition from Washington of "Moroccan sovereignty" over Western Sahara, the territory claimed by the Polisario Front, backed by Algeria.

Amiar believes that "the Abraham Accords changed the facts and are still changing many things very quickly."

The pace of partnership between the two countries has accelerated since then, especially in the field of military equipment (drones) and cybersecurity, in an arms race with Algeria in a context of tension between the two neighbors.

If economic cooperation is still far from ambitions, trade exchanges between Morocco and Israel increased in 2022 (+32 percent) in favor of Israel, and the number of Israeli tourists who visited the Kingdom increased (200,000 Israeli visitors), according to official figures.

For his part, Amiar mentions that "the partnership with Israel is based on common security interests and old relations that enabled the building of trust between the two countries."

This partnership is also based on the presence of some 700,000 Israelis who hail from Morocco and have maintained strong ties with their country of origin.

For his part, Zakaria Abu al-Dahab, professor of international relations at Mohammed V University in Rabat, considers that "this human and cultural link reinforces the idea of strengthening relations with the Hebrew state, regardless of the political and geopolitical circumstance."

However, the arrival of a current of the extreme right to power in Israel, against any resumption of negotiations with the Palestinians, and violence in the occupied territories, after an obstacle to this rapprochement.

"Any continuous deterioration in relations between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank or Gaza cannot, of course, but negatively affect public opinion's attitude toward relations with Israel," Amaar explains.

If the response to pro-Palestinian militant activities has weakened in Morocco, sympathy for this cause is still wide.

Recently, a hundred civil society figures appealed to the Moroccan government to put an end to normalization.

Zakaria Abu al-Dahab believes that "Moroccan society, with all its currents, is not necessarily convinced of normalization, which could be at the expense of the Palestinian cause."

But could the continuation of the confrontations in the West Bank undermine the foundations of the Abraham Accords?
In the opinion of the university professor, "In a turbulent context, which is further complicated by the situation in the Middle East, such as the resumption of diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the vision becomes unclear."

This is confirmed by the fact that the Negev summit, which was supposed to bring together this month in the kingdom the foreign ministers of the United States, Israel, Egypt, Morocco, the UAE and Bahrain, was postponed, according to diplomatic sources.