Morocco welcomes US president's statement on Palestinian state
Morocco-USA, Politics, 10/4/2001

Morocco's minister of foreign affairs and cooperation, Mohamed Benaissa, said Thursday Morocco welcomes the statement made by US president George W. Bush regarding the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Benaissa told MAP the initiative is a positive and encouraging step and an opportunity that would enable the Palestinian and Israeli sides to start negotiations on the final status. He also recalled that King Mohammed VI, chairman of Al-Quds committee, has been ceaselessly calling for resuming peace negotiations without conditions on the bases of the Madrid conference recommendations reached on the basis of the land for peace principle and agreements signed since then as well as the Mitchell report which recommends the freezing of settlements, the unconditional resumption of negotiations and the end of violence acts.

The head of the Moroccan diplomacy stressed that for Morocco there can be no genuine and fair settlement to the Palestinian issue without the establishment of a free, independent and sovereign Palestinian state with Al-Quds Asharif as a capital.

He also voiced Morocco's readiness to continue to be engaged in the peace process and to bring its contribution, owing to its credibility with all sides and in conformity with its constant positions vis-a-vis the Palestinian cause and the right of the Palestinian people to have their own state.

He added that the Palestinian cause and peace in the Middle East were among the major topics discussed by Moroccan officials and European foreign ministers who have visited Morocco recently.

On Tuesday, king Mohammed VI lauded and welcomed with great satisfaction President Bush's standpoint, which has a special impact in the present context of tension and uncertainty.

President George W. Bush had said a Palestinian state had always been "part of a vision" if Israel's right to exist is respected.

This standpoint, which will be a landmark in the evolution of the peace process between Palestinians and Israelis, joins the approach that Morocco has always defended and which was reaffirmed with strength after the events of September 11, a statement of the royal office said.

In an infallible and unequivocal consensus of all the political and spiritual components of the Kingdom, King Mohammed VI had then denounced these acts of terror that can never be justified nor forgiven, the Royal Office release said.

King Mohammed VI, chairman of the Al-Quds Committee, concluded that the initiative of President George W. Bush towards the Palestinian national movement and the rest of the Arab-Muslim world comforts and mobilizes all those who opted for reason, justice and respect of rules and of international law.

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