RABAT: French President Emmanuel Macron will head to Morocco next week for a three-day state visit, the Moroccan royal palace said Monday, following years of strained relations.
“This visit reflects the depth of bilateral relations based on a deep-rooted and solid partnership,” the palace said.
Macron, who will arrive on October 28, was invited to the North African country by Moroccan King Mohammed VI in late September.
The monarch had called the visit — the second since 2018 — an opportunity for “a renewed and ambitious vision covering several strategic sectors.”
Tensions between Paris and Rabat have risen in recent years over France’s ambiguous stance on the disputed Western Sahara and Macron’s quest for a rapprochement with Algeria.
A statement by the European Parliament in 2023 condemning a rollback in the kingdom’s freedom of the press also ramped up tensions, with some blaming Paris.
The two countries were also at odds after France in 2021 halved the number of visas it granted to Moroccans — a decision that was revoked the following year.
Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, is largely controlled by Morocco but claimed by the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which in 2020 declared a “self-defense war” and seeks the territory’s independence.
Macron in July eased tensions between the countries, saying Morocco’s autonomy plan for the territory was the “only basis” to resolve the decades-old conflict.
“The present and future of Western Sahara are part of Moroccan sovereignty,” Macron said in a statement.
France’s diplomatic turnabout had been awaited by Morocco, whose annexation of Western Sahara had already been recognized by the United States in return for Rabat’s normalizing ties with Israel in 2020.
The United Nations considers Western Sahara a “non-self-governing territory” and has had a peacekeeping mission there since 1991 whose stated aim is to organize a referendum on the territory’s future.
But Rabat has repeatedly rejected any vote in which independence is an option.
After Macron’s statement endorsing Morocco’s autonomy plan, the Polisario Front promptly withdrew its ambassador to Paris and has yet to replace him.
Rabat and Paris also hope that thawing relations will pave the way for economic deals — including in Western Sahara.
French engineering company Egis is set to extend the high-speed rail line between the Moroccan cities of Kenitra and Marrakech.
In Western Sahara, French energy company Engie has been contracted to build a water desalination plant and a wind farm.
France’s Macron to visit Morocco from October 28 to 30
https://arab.news/6fmbd
France’s Macron to visit Morocco from October 28 to 30
- King Mohammed VI said the visit is an opportunity for “a renewed and ambitious vision covering several strategic sectors”
Palestinians met requirements for Israel to extend banking waiver, source says
WASHINGTON: Israel’s requirements for the indemnification needed to allow Israeli banks to continue conducting transactions with Palestinian banks have been met by the Palestinian authorities, according to a source familiar with the situation.
Technical experts argue that should warrant an extension of a current indemnification — set to lapse on Oct. 31 — for at least a year to avert an economic crisis in the West Bank, the source said.
US Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, who last month warned Israel that allowing the banking relationships to lapse would put its own security at risk, spoke on Monday with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, according to the source. They discussed security and economic issues, as well as the authority’s efforts to improve its anti-money-laundering and countering-the-financing-of-terrorism regime.
Adeyemo noted the authority’s progress on the issue, including completing key milestones for assessing risks within its jurisdiction and bolstering effective compliance with international standards, the source said.
Israel’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lebanon security source says planes switch runways after Israeli strike near Beirut airport
BEIRUT: A Lebanese security official told AFP that the country’s national airline had to switch landing strips on Monday after Israeli strikes near Beirut’s only international airport hit close to the main runway.
“Middle East Airlines switched the runway it was using because the main runway is close to the site of the Ouzai strike,” the official said, requesting anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
Hezbollah hides millions in cash, gold under Beirut hospital, says Israel
- There are hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold inside the bunker right now, Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari says
JERUSALEM: Hezbollah has stashed hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold in a bunker built under a hospital in Beirut, Israel’s military said on Monday, adding it will not strike the facility as it keeps up attacks against the group’s financial assets.
Fadi Alameh, a Lebanese lawmaker with the Shiite Amal Movement party and the director of the hospital in question, Al-Sahel, told Reuters that Israel was making false and slanderous claims and called on the Lebanese Army to visit and show it only had operating rooms, patients and a morgue.
Alameh said the hospital was being evacuated. Israel’s military said it was not going to strike the facility.
Reuters could not independently verify the details provided by the Israeli military’s chief spokesman, Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, which he said had been collected by Israeli intelligence for years.
Hezbollah could not immediately be reached for comment.
In a televised statement, Hagari said Hezbollah’s former leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, whom Israel killed last month, had built the bunker which was designed for lengthy stays.
“There are hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold inside the bunker right now. I’m calling on the Lebanese government, Lebanese authorities, and the international organizations — don’t allow Hezbollah to use the money for terror and to attack Israel,” Hagari said.
“The Israeli Air Force is monitoring the compound, as you can see. However, we will not strike the hospital itself,” Hagari said.
Israeli Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi told troops in Lebanon that overnight between Sunday and Monday, aircraft had struck around 30 sites belonging to Al-Qard Al-Hassan, which Israel says is Hezbollah’s financial arm.
Hagari said more strikes against Hezbollah financial sites were to continue.
Fire extinguished at Syria’s Homs refinery, state media says
CAIRO: Firefighting teams and civil defense forces extinguished a fire that broke out at the gas department of Syria’s Homs refinery, state media reported early on Tuesday.
Cooling operations are currently being carried out, it added.
Queen Rania meets young entrepreneurs in Jordan
- Program had been supported by her sponsorship initiative
AMMAN: Queen Rania met a group of young Jordanians in Amman on Monday to discuss their income-generating projects, as part of a program previously supported by her sponsorship initiative.
The sponsorship scheme, which aimed to empower young entrepreneurs, has successfully backed 190 youth-led projects across Jordan.
The schemes were primarily selected by civil society organizations with support from the Jordan River Foundation, utilizing its own community empowerment programs, the Jordan News Agency reported.
The entrepreneurs shared insights into their initiatives at the meeting, detailing the job opportunities they had created and the vocational and professional skills developed among fellow Jordanians.
They highlighted several success stories that demonstrated the positive impact of the ventures on their lives and communities and, rather than pursuing traditional employment routes, had showed their commitment to following their passions and launching unconventional projects.
Each participant in Queen Rania’s sponsorship program had already established a small project, successfully creating between one and three part-time or full-time jobs prior to receiving support.
The initiative aimed to provide young leaders with the necessary resources and mentorship to expand their businesses further to enhance their social impact.
