The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
July 19, 2023

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

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."


.