Top Israeli, Moroccan diplomats end first meeting in Rabat

Senior officials in the Israeli and Moroccan foreign ministries have concluded their first meeting in Rabat, agreeing to deepen ties between the two countries by rapidly reopening their respective liaison offices, the Israeli Foreign Ministry says.

During the meeting, Foreign Ministry Director-General Alon Upshitz and Moroccan Secretary of State in the Foreign Ministry Mahsan Al-Jazouri also discussed the details of several agreements due to be signed later in the day at the King’s palace.

Israel and Morocco maintained limited ties from the 1970s to 2000, when Rabat called them off with the outbreak of the Second Intifada. The ties included diplomatic offices — though not embassies — in each other’s countries. As these properties were never sold, the two countries can more easily reopen them.

“The two agreed that this was a new chapter in the relations between the nations, based on hundreds of years of deep ties. At the meeting, [the] director-general of the Foreign Ministry discussed the great emotion in Israel about the renewed ties between the two countries and the influence that the two societies had on one another,” according to the Foreign Ministry.

— Judah Ari Gross in Rabat