Deutsche Welle: Moroccan-Israeli peace rapprochement: An (un)expected surprise?

Morocco's reconnection with Israel marks the return to their previous low-level diplomatic relations which had developed in the context of the Oslo accords in the 1990s and had ended with the Second Intifada in 2000. However, cultural ties date back to the pre-Roman Jewish colonies of Mauretania Tingitana around 2,000 years ago.

Despite major waves of migration from Morocco to Israel in the 1950s and 1960s, Morocco is still home to the largest remaining Jewish community in North Africa, while Jews with Moroccan heritage make up the largest minority group of Jewish immigrants in Israel, totaling around 900,000. [...]

In Israel, however, the destiny of the Sahrawi nation does not appear to be a priority. On Thursday, the first day of the Jewish holiday Hanukkah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu focused on celebrating the new ties with Morocco.

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Reuters: Kushner's economic plan for Mideast peace faces broad Arab rejection

The lack of a political solution, which Washington has said would be unveiled later, prompted rejection not only from Palestinians but also in Arab countries with which Israel would seek normal relations.

From Sudan to Kuwait, commentators and ordinary citizens denounced Kushner’s proposals in strikingly similar terms: “colossal waste of time,” “non-starter,” “dead on arrival.”

Egyptian liberal and leftist parties slammed the workshop as an attempt to “consecrate and legitimize” occupation of Arab land and said in a joint statement that any Arab participation would be “beyond the limits of normalization” with Israel. [...]

Thousands of people marched through the Moroccan capital Rabat on Sunday to express their solidarity with the Palestinians and their opposition to the Kushner plan. [...]

Arab analysts believe Kushner’s economic plan is an attempt to buy off opposition to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land with a multi-billion dollar bribe to pay off the neighboring hosts of millions of Palestinian refugees to integrate them.

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Scene On Radio SeeingWhite: How Race Was Made (Seeing White, Part 2)

For much of human history, people viewed themselves as members of tribes or nations but had no notion of “race.” Today, science deems race biologically meaningless. Who invented race as we know it, and why? By John Biewen, with guest Chenjerai Kumanyika.

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The Atlantic: The Female Quran Experts Fighting Radical Islam in Morocco

Some 1,600 Moroccans are thought to have joined extremist groups, mainly ISIS, since 2012, with some 300 still fighting with ISIS, according to Moroccan Interior Ministry figures. Although these figures are low compared to, say, Tunisia’s—some 7,000 Tunisians joined the group over the same period—the death toll in Europe has brought into focus the need for prevention and Morocco has come to play an outsized role in the debate over how, exactly, young people can be stopped from embracing radical Islam. [...]

One particular initiative comes with a twist: It places a special emphasis on women. Eleven years ago, Rabat saw the opening of an elite new school called L’Institut Mohammed VI Pour La Formation Des Imams, Morchidines, et Morchidates. It turns young women into religious scholars and then sends them out into pockets of the country where radical Islamists are known to recruit disenfranchised youth—to provide spiritual guidance that contradicts the messages they might receive from violent extremists. Making school visits and home visits, each woman—called a morchidat, or spiritual guide—talks to young Muslims and contests interpretations of the Quran that terrorist groups use for recruitment. For women to be employed by the government to do this kind of work within Morocco’s Islamic communities, where spiritual leadership is generally the domain of men, is unusual. Men are also trained at the Rabat school, but it’s the hundreds of female graduates who are having the most impact, according to the program director, Abdeslam El-Azaar. [...]

Many of the young Moroccan men and women who turn to groups like ISIS feel isolated, come from violent homes, or have been involved with petty crime. Radical Islamists offer them community and tell them that a full-throated embrace of their religion—an embrace that includes violence against nonbelievers—is the solution. Morchidats like Hidra suggest the solution is less doctrinaire. They walk young people through Quranic passages that emphasize tolerance, and provide gentler interpretations of passages that could be taken to promote violence. The idea is that young people eventually learn that their faith is not at odds with their families or society more broadly, and that this provides a lasting bulwark against terrorist recruiters. [...]

For the women in the program, however, there’s a side benefit that they find indisputable: It has elevated their status as women in society. Faitha El-Phammouti, 25, is in the class of scholars graduating later this year. She says the whole experience hasn’t just changed the way other people look at her, it has changed the way she sees herself. “I used to think men were superior to women,” she told me. “Now I don’t just think we’re equals, I think women come out ahead. We aren’t forced to work; we have a lot of autonomy and as morchidats we can have a profound impact on society, even more than men can, because we can talk to the young people and explain to them about the true Islam and they are willing to learn from us.”

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Haaretz: 'The King Is Not God, He Is Sometimes Wrong': Six Years Late, the Arab Spring Rattles Morocco

Similar to Tunisia and Egypt, where the spark of revolution exploded because of the deaths of two young people, Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia and Khaled Mohamed Saeed in Egypt, Morocco, which avoided a revolution, is now seething. Since October, when parliamentary elections were held, Morocco has not been quiet. [...]

Social networks, as usual, were the first to get the political struggle going. Demonstrations spread to other cities, and in this usually calm country the military arrested hundreds of protesters. Meanwhile, journalists were prohibited from covering the events, and any reporters who attended the protests were arrested and sometimes beaten. Last month, as the protests grew stronger, someone was seriously injured during a protest and died this week. [...]

The residents of the Rif, most of whom are Berbers, have seen major improvements in their cultural rights during the king’s rule, but they’re still discriminated against economically, and the king’s speech was a disappointment for them. Not only were the inspectors responsible for Fikri’s death sentenced to prison terms of only a few months, the development promises were left empty. The government allotted 650 million euros to the region, but after the king ordered a look into why the funds had not been used, the people realized that the severe bureaucratic corruption they knew so well was still plaguing them. [...]

In any case, the government is now divided into two factions: one that supports a suppression of the uprising, the other in favor of dialogue with the demonstrators, who have increased their demands and want to negotiate directly with the king, not with the new prime minister, Saadeddine Othmani. [...]

The shock waves hitting Morocco worry not only the king, but also other Middle Eastern countries – and especially those that have skirted the Arab Spring like the Gulf states. Six years ago, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar all financed Mohammed in a bid to prevent the revolutions from spreading to Morocco. The king then instituted constitutional reforms including a reduction of his powers; he also lifted his authority to dissolve parliament and gave more power to the government.

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Independent: Laws that allow rapists to marry their victims come from colonialism, not Islam

In Jordan, it’s easy for a convicted rapist to simply walk free from court; all he has to do is to subject his victim to yet another terrible ordeal.

Article 308 of the Jordanian penal code means that a rapist can escape punishment if he agrees to marry his victim. Only if the marriage lasts for less than three years does he have to serve his time. Between 2010 and 2013, a total of 159 rapists walked free in this way. [...]

Similar legislation has been abolished in Egypt, Morocco and just last week in Tunisia, while activists in Lebanon have seen their demands for abolition endorsed by the government and are now awaiting parliamentary approval. [...]

Article 308 is a remnant of the Ottoman rule, but its origin is even more distant – historically and geographically – as the Ottomans had imported it from the French penal code. In countries that were under French colonial rule, such as Lebanon and Tunisia, laws like Article 308 are a direct hangover.

The roots of these laws lie in the cultural impact of centuries under colonial rule, where subjugation was ultimately secured by a true “gentlemen’s agreement”. While foreign powers took control of the state, in exchange they offered local men complete control of their homes.

The colonialists fed and legitimised the misogynist voices within the colonised, and so many of the barriers that women face in the region stem directly from this strategy of using patriarchy as a tool of oppression.

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Jacobin Magazine: Morocco’s Burgeoning Resistance

On Friday, October 28, police killed Mohasin Fikri. The now-standard press story explains that the officers put Fikri’s fish in the back of a garbage truck after he refused to bribe them; Fikri tried to retrieve his catch, and both he and the fish were crushed. The other version — which Rifian activists say is more credible — has it that Fikri got in the truck first, as if to say, “This is my livelihood; you must go through me.” [...]

Protests began immediately in al-Hoceima, and the day after, twenty thousand people joined the funeral march to Fikri’s hometown Imzouren. The day after, protests broke out in every major city across the country. Fikri’s horrible death was taken as a symbol of the regime’s abuse — its corruption, violence, and lack of accountability — and brought people into the streets. [...]

That month saw a rash of protests and rallies in al-Hoceima: women led a massive demonstration on International Women’s Day; on May 18, the largest demonstration yet took place, and less than two weeks later, Popular Movement activist Nasser al-Zafzafi interrupted the imam of the largest mosque in town, asking, “Are these mosques of God, or of the Makhzan?” [...]

The king serves as the official Commander of the Faithful, and the Makhzan uses the church for politicking in the most direct sense: according to Le Desk, Minister for Islamic Affairs Ahmed Taoufik “demanded of imams in the al-Hoceima province, all of whom get their salaries from the ministry, to deliver a sermon reproaching the young rebels for promoting fitna, or division among Muslims.” [...]

The group’s female leadership has also increased the movement’s reach. Ziani has become one of the more prominent figures, and prison has only increased her fame. After al-Zafzafi’s arrest, the anti-cancer activist Nawal Ben Aissa became the movement’s recognized leader until her own arrest.

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Al Jazeera: Discovering the spirit of Ramadan in Morocco

With long, hot afternoons spent awaiting nighttime festivities, and the rhythm of the day ceremoniously thrown upside down, it is unmistakably Ramadan.

The Muslim holy month, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, moves 11 days earlier each year due to the disparity between lunar and Gregorian calendars, causing it to shift throughout the year as decades pass. This year, the holy month straddled the months of May and July.

During Ramadan, Muslims must observe "sawm", which entails fasting from dawn until dusk, abstaining from food, liquids, smoking or engaging in sexual relations. It is a time for prayer, reflection, atonement and charity - when rewards for good deeds are multiplied.

In Morocco, the true spirit of Ramadan could not be clearer.

On a sweltering day in Marrakech, Rahma, an engineering student, said appreciation is at the heart of Ramadan.

“God asks us to fast so we can feel the importance of what we take for granted, to feel the hunger of the poor and encourage us to live with gratitude and empathy.”

From the taxi drivers who shared iftar from the boot of their car, to the Amazigh Bedouins who prepared mint tea on an open fire, one enjoys the hospitality that epitomises Ramadan, and which is fundamental to Islam, all 13 months of the year.

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Al Jazeera: Protests Spread Across Morocco

Protests Spread Across Morocco Protests Spread Across Morocco.
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Al Jazeera: Morocco's king names former foreign minister as new PM

Morocco's king has named Saad Eddine El Othmani from Islamist PJD Party as the country's new prime minister and asked him to form a government, according to a royal statement published by the MAP state news agency on Friday.

Othmani served as foreign minister between 2011-2013 and had since served as the head of the PJD's parliamentary group.

King Mohammed VI announced on Wednesday he would replace Abdelilah Benkirane as prime minister with another member of the PJD in an effort to break a five-month post-election deadlock. [...]

Under Morocco's election law no party can win an outright majority in the 395-seat parliament, making coalition governments a necessity in a system where the king still holds ultimate power.

But the PJD failed to form a majority despite five months of intense negotiations - the longest time Morocco has been without a government in its recent history.

Benkirane proposed to rebuild his outgoing coalition, an alliance comprising a range of parties including other Islamists, liberals and ex-communists.

However, he faced opposition from Aziz Akhannouch - leader of the National Rally of Independents (RNI) and a billionaire former agriculture minister who critics say is close to the king - and the resulting power struggle quickly led to political impasse.

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Deutsche Welle: Solar panels make Morocco’s mosques a model for green energy

It's all part of a scheme being pioneered by Morocco's Ministry of Islamic Affairs. Of around 50,000 mosques dotted across the country, the ministry is responsible for energy and water in approximately 15,000. The government plans to install electricity producing PV, or photovoltaic panels, LED lighting and solar thermal water heaters at around 600 mosques by 2019 and more after that. [...]

The changes taking place at mosques are just some of the measures Morocco is taking in developing its renewable energy sector. A frontrunner in the region, the country has already rolled out large wind farm and solar energy projects. In 2015, the King of Morocco announced the country would aim to get more than half its electricity from renewables by 2030. [...]

Currently, Morocco is heavily dependent on energy imports. AMEE estimates that more than 95 percent of its energy comes from outside the country, which makes it vulnerable to energy price fluctuations.

The government believes that energy efficiency and renewable energy are the key to reducing the country's dependency and providing people with an affordable source of power, at least in the long run. But the initial costs for installing solar panels or measures to make their energy more efficient are beyond what many Moroccans can afford.

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CityLab: Africa's First High-Speed Train Is Coming

The train from Tangier to Casablanca currently moseys down the coast of Morocco, making the journey in 4 hours and 45 minutes. When the North African nation’s new high-speed train debuts in June 2018, that trip will take less than half the time—2 hours and 10 minutes. It will be the first high-speed train for both Morocco and the African continent.

There’s much to be celebrated in the successful completion of this $1.9 billion project. Who doesn’t love a high-speed train—especially in comparison to those sucky U.S. trains? The high-tech rolling stock comes from French manufacturer Alstom, which supplied the 12 double-decker models; the funding came from Morocco, France, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. The high-speed line is in keeping with the Moroccan government’s focus on attracting foreign investment through megaprojects. From the world’s largest solar plant in the Sahara Desert to a new airport for the capital, recent development has been big and flashy. And it’s worked: Since 2011, foreign direct investment has increased by more than 11 percent. Tourism, which supplies close to 7 percent of GDP (more than twice the percentage in the United States), has also remained strong. [...]

Unemployment remains a major issue for Morocco, with a countrywide rate of over 20 percent. For young people, the figure doubles. Fabiani tells CityLab that the country’s urban/rural divide is particularly stark. “If you go outside the main cities,” he says, “the state of the roads is very poor, as is access to clean water, schools, and hospitals.” A high-speed train linking Morocco’s main urban centers will likely be out of reach, both geographically and financially, for the majority of Moroccans. “The people who will be able to afford it—residents of cities and professionals—are not that many,” he says, noting that the money and effort might be better spent on more effective education efforts.

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Politico: The EU’s Morocco problem

On Wednesday, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) delivered a vindication for the people of Western Sahara. In a long-awaited ruling on a trade deal between the European Union and Morocco, the court reiterated long-established international law that Western Sahara is not part of Morocco, and therefore that trade agreements that include Western Sahara cannot be signed with Morocco.

The EU must now convey a clear message to Morocco that, in keeping with this judgment, it will immediately halt all agreements, funding and projects used by the Moroccan government to reinforce its illegal occupation of Western Sahara. The EU and its member countries must also ensure that all private companies and entities under their jurisdiction also cease their engagement with Morocco, in respect of any exploitation of the natural resources of Western Sahara. [...]

Furthermore, as the ECJ ruling makes clear, the EU would be in violation of international and regional human rights law if it fails to comply. Morocco reports details of its development projects to the European Commission, which must approve them individually if they are to receive EU funding. With the ECJ’s judgment, there is no ambiguity about the situation: Western Sahara is not part of Morocco, and EU funding for Moroccan developments in the territory only entrenches a brutal and illegal occupation. A plea of ignorance will no longer suffice for those who illegally exploit the resources of the people of Western Sahara. [...]

The challenge for the EU is how to help end Morocco’s illegal occupation of Western Sahara — an occupation characterized by brutal, systematic and well-documented human rights abuses, including mass detentions and routine threats by security services to rape the wives and sisters of Sahrawi activists.

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