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Israel Recognizes Morocco’s Sovereignty Over Western Sahara, Which It Has Occupied Since 1975

HeadlineJul 19, 2023

Activists in Western Sahara are calling for solidarity from Palestinian rights groups, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday formally recognized Morocco’s claims of sovereignty over the northwest African territory. Israel becomes the second country in the world to do so, after Donald Trump tweeted U.S. recognition in December of 2020. Morocco has occupied Western Sahara since 1975 in defiance of the United Nations and international law. Over the past four decades, thousands of Western Sahara’s Indigenous people, the Sahrawi, have been tortured, imprisoned, killed and disappeared while resisting the Moroccan occupation. Speaking with Middle East Eye, Western Sahara-based activist Mohammed Elbaikam said, “Morocco relies on the same tools and methods as Israel in suppressing the Palestinians, occupying them, displacing them from their land, robbing them of their wealth and controlling them.”

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