Delegation From Morocco to Visit Israel for Normalization Talks

A delegation of officials from Morocco were set to visit Israel early this week to discuss the opening of a liaison office in Tel Aviv and the eventual opening of an embassy, as well as the launching of direct flights.

The announcement of the delegation, which could arrive as early as Sunday, came a day after Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke on Friday with Morocco’s King Mohammed VI and invited him to visit Israel. “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship,” Netanyahu told the king, according to reports, a send up of the final line of the classic film “Casablanca.”

A joint US and Israeli delegation visited Morocco last week, leaving on the first direct flight between Rahat and Tel Aviv. The meetings come more than two weeks after US President Donald Trump announced that he had brokered a deal under which Israel and Morocco would establish full diplomatic relations, and in parallel the United States would recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over the Western Sahara.