King Hassan and normalization with Israel
Egypt-Morocco, Politics, 7/26/1999

An Egyptian diplomat said on Sunday that the secret meeting held in Rabat in 1977 between then-Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan and Egyptian Deputy Premier Hassan al-Tuhami, in the presence of the late Moroccan King Hassan II was behind encouraging Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat to announce his determination to visit occupied Jerusalem.

The Egyptian diplomat added in Cairo in a statement to the AFP that King Hassan II agreed, just like Sudan and Oman, to this visit which provoked the anger of other Arab states.

The Egyptian diplomat noted that King Hassan II has always sought to comply between his personal convictions on the need to make peace and the Arab stand in standing against Sadat's position.

The agency added that Morocco had joined the rank of the "moderates" who refused a complete boycott of Egypt and refused the call to topple Sadat as called for by other Arab states such as Iraq, Syria, Libya, Algeria, South Yemen and the PLO.

Morocco was the first Arab state which approved the principle of restoring diplomatic relations with Egypt in 1984, thereby marking the beginning of normalization of relations with other Arab states.

Previous Stories:
  Morocco pays final respects to late king   (7/25/1999)
  Morocco pays final respects to late king   (7/25/1999)
  Israel's ambassador to UK lauds King Hassan II's vision   (7/12/1999)

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