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President Trump’s decision to recognize Morocco's sovereignty over the contested territory of Western Sahara in exchange for the nation resuming ties with Israel is coming up against bipartisan and international pushback.
While welcoming the increasing number of countries normalizing relations with Israel, critics are concerned these deals are coming with a quid pro quo of large weapons sales and a disregard for human rights.
They also slam the president for throwing out decades of multilateral mediation and legitimizing forceful land grabs in violation of international law.
“I am concerned this announcement upends a credible, internationally supported U.N. process to address the territorial dispute over Western Sahara,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) said on Thursday.
“Casting aside legitimate multilateral avenues of conflict resolution only empowers countries like Russia and China to continue trampling on international rules and norms and rewards those who violate borders and the rights of free peoples,” he added.
Trump announced on Twitter on Thursday that the U.S. would recognize Morocco’s claims to annexed territory in the Western Sahara, while Rabat would begin resuming diplomatic relations with Jerusalem.
The decision drew a strong rebuke from Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and an ally of the president. He called the move to recognize Rabat’s claims to the Western Sahara “shocking and deeply disappointing.”
“I am saddened that the rights of the Western Saharan people have been traded away,” he said.
Morocco annexed portions of the Western Sahara in 1979 but did not receive international recognition of its claims in the face of conflict with the separatist Polisario Front, which represents the indigenous Sahrawi people. Hundreds of thousands of Sahrawi refugees currently reside in neighboring Algeria, which supports their independence movement.
A referendum to determine the final status of the territory has stalled since a ceasefire agreement was brokered in 1991 by the United Nations, and an international peacekeeping force has monitored the situation for decades.
European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borell said Thursday that the EU remains committed to the U.N. efforts to resolve the conflict, while voicing support for the resumption of ties between Israel and Morocco.
...The Hill