RABAT – Morocco and Israel have added legal ties to an ongoing list of cooperation agreements since normalizing relations in 2020, a stopover Tuesday through Justice Minister Gideon Saar.
Saar signed a court settlement in Rabat with his Moroccan counterpart Abdellatif Ouahbi.
A group said the two countries will experiment and modernize their judicial systems through digitization, while cooperating in the fight against organized crime, terrorism and human trafficking.
Also on Tuesday, Israeli Minister of Regional Cooperation Esawi Frej, an Israeli Arab whose family is from Morocco, held talks in Rabat about a cultural exchange program for young people from both countries.
Morocco seceded from Israel in 2000 after the outbreak of the Palestinian intifada of the time, but restored ties two decades later in a deal that saw Washington, under the Trump administration, recognize Rabat’s sovereignty over disputed Western Sahara.
Morocco claimed Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony with phosphate resources and deep-sea fisheries, after Spain’s withdrawal in 1975.
But the Algerian-backed Polisario Front took up arms to call for independence there, proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) in 1976 and waged a 16-year war with Morocco. Morocco has presented autonomy to Western Sahara, but maintains that the territory is a sovereign of the kingdom.
Since Rabat and Jerusalem renewed their ties, a steady stream of Moroccan and Israeli officials has visited other countries and signed agreements ranging from defense and security to economy, culture and sports.
Israeli army leader Aviv Kohavi visited Morocco this week, cementing the strategic and military alliance between the Jewish state and the North African country.
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