Tzachi Hanegbi, the director of the National Security Council and national security adviser for Israel, met with the chiefs of the Moroccan security agencies as well as foreign minister Nasser Bourita on Wednesday in Rabat.
The meetings, according to Hangebi’s office, were primarily aimed at furthering King Mohammed VI and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s shared agenda for enhancing bilateral cooperation in foreign and security areas.
Amir Ohana, the speaker of the Knesset, also arrived in Rabat on Wednesday for an official visit to the Moroccan Parliament.
The first speaker of the Knesset to ever make an official trip to a Muslim nation’s parliament is Ohana of the ruling Likud Party.
The high-profile trips this week occur as Israel is mulling endorsing Morocco’s claim to the Western Sahara in exchange for improved diplomatic ties.
According to a source in Netanyahu’s cabinet, the matter was being discussed at the nation’s National Security Council on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
Shai Cohen, the head of the Israeli liaison office in Rabat, stated on Tuesday that the foreign ministries of the two nations were debating Western Sahara and that “the final decision will be a decision made by both our ministers.”
According to a diplomatic source who spoke to Reuters, if Israel were to acknowledge Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara, liaison offices in Rabat and Tel Aviv may eventually gain embassy status and enter into a free-trade pact.
In exchange for Morocco adopting the Abraham Accords, the United States will acknowledge Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara in 2020, and Madrid supported Morocco’s desire to provide autonomy to the disputed area and former Spanish colony last year.
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