US, Israeli Delegations Fly to Morocco on First Commercial Flight from Tel Aviv

Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, heads an American delegation that is due to arrive Tuesday in Rabat, Morocco from Tel Aviv, Israel on the first direct commercial flight between the two countries since they announced on December 10 the normalization of relations between them. An Israeli delegation, including National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat, who is of Moroccan descent, is also on the flight. Israel and Morocco are expected to sign a number of political and economic agreements during the visit of delegations from the Jewish state and the United States to the North African kingdom. Morocco is the third Arab state, after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, to normalize ties with Israel this year; a fourth Arab country, Sudan, has also announced its intention to do so. Israeli-Moroccan normalization is part of a deal in which the Trump Administration has vowed to back Moroccan claims of sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara. A separatist group, the Polisario Front, backed by Algeria, controls about 20% of the territory.