Israeli airways see first flights take off for Morocco

The first direct passenger flights from Israel to Morocco took off on Sunday, simply six months after each international locations signed a deal to deepen diplomatic ties.
More than 100 passengers departed from Tel Aviv to Marrakesh on board an Israir airplane, the airline mentioned in an announcement.
As many as three flights every week are deliberate.
An El Al flight took off from Ben Gurion Airport at 11:35 a.m. native time (0835 UTC/GMT).
The airport’s lounges have been embellished in conventional Moroccan fashion for the occasion.
Israeli Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov mentioned the brand new direct flights would “help advance fruitful tourism, trade and economic cooperation and diplomatic agreements between the two countries.”
The transfer to bolster the connection between Israel and Morocco got here after a US-brokered normalization deal agreed beneath the Trump administration.
A one-off flight from Tel Aviv to Rabat carrying US diplomats and officers came about in December to have fun the settlement.
Lapid to change into first Israeli international minister to go to Morocco
Yair Lapid, the Israeli international minister, mentioned on Monday that he plans to go to Morocco later this month as soon as the air hyperlinks had been restored.
“After my trip to Morocco, [Moroccan Foreign] Minister [Nasser] Bourita will come visit Israel to open missions here,” he mentioned.
Details of Lapid’s go to are nonetheless to be confirmed, however it might be the primary official journey to Morocco for an Israeli international minister.
What did the connection between Israel and Morocco appear like?
Morocco and Israel have by no means had full diplomatic relations, however Rabat did have a liaison workplace in Tel Aviv till 2000.
Ties have been damaged off through the second Palestinian intifada, or rebellion, of 2000-2005.
Similar offers with signed between the Israeli authorities and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan.
Aides near Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have known as the agreements “a betrayal” of the Palestinian trigger, probably scuppering the Middle East peace course of.
“May you never be sold out by your “friends,” the veteran Palestinian politician Hanan Ashrawi tweeted in response to the announcement of the pact with the United Arab Emirates.

Israel boosts ties as Berlin relations bitter
The rapprochement between Israel and Morocco comes as relations bitter between Rabat and Berlin.
Two months in the past, Morocco recalled its ambassador to Germany, accusing the German authorities of “a destructive attitude on the issue of the Moroccan Sahara.”

The time period is utilized by Rabat to explain the disputed territory of Western Sahara that the US acknowledged as belonging to Morocco beneath former President Donald Trump.
Germany has up to now refused to observe, suggesting talks on the UN to resolve the difficulty.
Western Sahara was beforehand occupied by Spain till 1975 when Morocco annexed the colony.
The transfer triggered a conflict that yr between the Moroccan authorities and the Sahrawi nationalist Polisario Front, which seeks self-determination for the territory.