The political turmoil in Israel is delaying the development of relations with Arab countries.
These are subtle squeaks in the wheels of normalization, which are hard to hear in the media noise of the fifth election, but they may have a far-reaching meaning.
It is not yet a crisis.
However, these are barriers that could be easily removed if there was a stable government here.
The King of Morocco in his speech this month.
Looking forward to clarifications, photo: AFP
The king of Morocco recently gave a speech that should have resonated in Israel.
Mohammed VI made it clear in it that through the issue of the Western Sahara and the recognition of his sovereignty over it, Morocco examines its relations with the world.
He mentioned that there are still new and traditional partnerships that take ambiguous positions.
In doing so, he alluded to the position of Israel, which has not yet made an official statement on the matter, but also to other countries such as France.
Macron has been warned.
Ben Zayed understood the message, photo: AP
A crisis was born
The king is not content with mere words.
You can learn how important the issue is to him from the following story: The Secretary General of the Polisario Front, Ibrahim Ralli, landed in Tunisia on Friday to participate in the Japanese-African Economic Forum. Tunisian President Case Said made sure to receive him with a guard of honor at the airport. Morocco was not left behind Must. The kingdom immediately canceled its participation in the forum held at the weekend, and recalled its ambassador for consultation. At first, Said's office tried to minimize damage and say that he received Ralli without recognizing any of his official titles. The new dictator is quite volatile, and soon Tunisia announced the recall of the ambassador from Morocco A diplomatic crisis has emerged.
Over the Western Sahara, a southern and desert region, there has been a multi-year conflict with the Polisario Front.
While Morocco offers to establish autonomy there, the guerrilla organization demands to hold a referendum on the establishment of a separate independent state.
This is more or less the end of the similarity to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The inhabitants of the region are descendants of Berber-Arab tribes, mostly Sunni Muslims, just like the Moroccans.
Furthermore, it is only about 620 thousand people, in addition to tens of thousands of refugees in Algeria.
In contrast, there are more than 37 million Moroccans who do not live in the Sahara.
The guerrilla organization itself, which controls about 20 percent of the territory, is largely a product of the Cold War era.
It arose in the 1970s and has since been supported by socialist and pro-Soviet Algeria.
This militia is also hostile to Israel, and according to Rabat, received support from Iran.
It is easy to understand why Morocco is amazed by this claim of sovereignty, and no less - by Israel's foot-dragging.
On the face of it, it seems that the words of Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked during her visit to Morocco that Israel supports sovereignty did not satisfy Rabat, who is expecting an official statement from the Prime Minister.
It was recently published in "Israel Hayom" that Prime Minister Lapid may visit Morocco before the elections.
It will be interesting to see if the visit will come to fruition, and if there will be any news on the matter.
Except that Israel is (again) in elections, and it is doubtful whether such a decision can be made during a transition period.
One way or another, in Morocco this is interpreted as deliberate obfuscation.
Do not break the dishes
The creaks in relations are also a consequence of the apparent return of the Biden administration in the US to the nuclear agreement with Iran. The United Arab Emirates announced last week the return of its ambassador to Tehran after six years. Abu Dhabi maintained a security channel with Iran during this period, but only now has it been decided to renew In view of the nuclear agreement taking shape, it seems that the United Arab Emirates prefers not to break ties with its neighbor to the north of the Gulf, even if Israel is not happy about it.
Another tension is actually related to the large flow of tourists from Israel, which also carries negative effects.
The case of the Israeli Fida Kiwan, who was arrested on charges of trafficking in cocaine, is the extreme case.
Although the death sentence imposed on her was commuted to life imprisonment, the affair casts doubt on the trust between the countries.
Similarly, the refusal to open Oman's airspace to Israeli flights to the Far East, which was revealed in Israel Hayom, stands.
Even in Muscat they probably bet on the Iranian horse.
In these two countries, the work of the senior political level was required, at least as much as that invested by the President's House in renewing relations with Turkey.
However, the political instability radiates weakness.
When there is no landlord with whom to reach agreements, because at best he will change within a few months, the Arab countries understand the message: it is not certain that the return they will receive from Israel for normalization is worth the risk they are taking.
The jewel in the crown is moving away
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was the jewel in the crown of normalization.
It is also in talks with Iran.
The spokesman for the National Security Committee in the Iranian Parliament, Abu al-Fadal Amavi, said about a week ago that the dialogue with Saudi Arabia has reached the stage of renewing diplomatic relations.
The sixth and public round between the countries was already supposed to take place if not for the chaos in Iraq.
It can be estimated that the return of the Emirati ambassador to Tehran was also on the mind of the Saudi crown prince.
By the way, Israel had the opportunity to strengthen relations with Riyadh by declaring the Houthi militia in Yemen a terrorist organization.
The same militia that has been fighting in Saudi Arabia since 2015 and calls the morning news "death to Israel".
There were those in the Knesset who called for this, but the initiative fell on deaf ears.
In the meantime, the parties to the war in Yemen preferred to turn to Hodna through the mediation of the United Nations, and another opportunity was missed.
Riyadh's cold attitude towards Jerusalem could also be learned from the nature and timing of the announcement about the opening of the airspace: in the dead of night, and without mentioning Israel, as the one who stopped the demon.
Nevertheless, Saudi Arabia needed a green light from Jerusalem to transfer sovereignty over the islands of Tiran and Fin from Egypt.
It is interesting to know if Riyadh knew in real time that Oman would slow down the exchange in relation to Israel.
In the best case, the meaning of these squeaks is that Israel will for the time being be content with economic and security ties with Arab countries.
At worst, they indicate the beginning of a retreat in the acceptance of Israel in the region.
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