Washington, December 27, 2016 – the American worldwide spread newspapers – Washington Times – published Sunday an opinion entitled Hope in the Sahara, The courts send a word of caution to the king of Morocco in which the Washington Times highlighted the considerable achievement that the Frente POLISARIO gained in the international sphere in its struggle against the kingdom of Morocco for the self-determination of the Sahrawi people.
“They have won several campaigns at the United Nations and decisions in the international courts, as well as in the courts of public opinion, but the Moroccans have steadfastly refused to bend. The kingdom insists that possession is nine-tenths of the law” the Washington Times says
The latest victory at the European Court of Justice is the judicial determination that the EU cannot treat the occupied territories, or their exports, as Moroccan. Resolutions by the United Nations, civil demonstrations and court decisions have done little over the years to influence the kingdom, but now the king and his court must contend with not just international condemnation but a continuing loss of the spoils of aggression, the American newspapers adds in its opinion
Following is the full text of the opinion:
Hope in the Sahara
The courts send a word of caution to the king of Morocco
As struggles against the established order go, conflict in the Western Sahara is small potatoes. The people there have been struggling for self-determination and nationhood for 46 years, since Morocco imposed its rule over the territory. Lately the warriors are lawyers armed with writs and torts instead of revolutionaries armed with knives, guns and bombs.
The conflict between the Polisario Front and the Kingdom of Morocco is a continuation of the past insurgency of the Polisario against the colonial Spanish forces a half-century ago, and the subsequent Western Sahara War against Morocco. Under the late Mohamed Abdelaziz, the insurgents forsook the violence that characterizes North Africa and appealed instead to the International Court of Justice, the United Nations and the conscience of the world, such as it is, to persuade the Moroccans to return their homeland.
They have won several campaigns at the United Nations and decisions in the international courts, as well as in the courts of public opinion, but the Moroccans have steadfastly refused to bend. The kingdom insists that possession is nine-tenths of the law.
But Morocco has learned, slowly, that sometimes world opinion and international law, carefully cultivated, do matter. Last year the European Court of Justice voided a trade deal between the European Union and Morocco because it covered products from the occupied territories, which the court said “is not part of Morocco.”
The king is determined to keep the United States out of the dispute, and spends millions of dollars every year on lobbyists to work to that end, but last year Morocco read the handwriting in the sand and concluded it was losing the public-opinion war.
James A. Baker, the former secretary of State, worked out a deal he thought both sides would think too good to refuse. It would have established a referendum to enable the people who live there to decide once and for all who they want to be. The deal collapsed under royal pressure and since then the United States has begun looking closely at why, and examining the particulars of Moroccan conduct on the ground.This latest victory at the European Court of Justice is the judicial determination that the EU cannot treat the occupied territories, or their exports, as Moroccan. Resolutions by the United Nations, civil demonstrations and court decisions have done little over the years to influence the kingdom, but now the king and his court must contend with not just international condemnation but a continuing loss of the spoils of aggression.
The EU is Morocco’s largest trading partner. Last year 63 percent of all its exports went to Europe, and the kingdom earns considerable revenue from selling the disputed fishing rights in Western Saharan waters to Europeans. Morocco ships fruits and vegetables grown in the occupied territories to the EU through a company owned in part by Morocco’s King Mohammed VI. Sometimes money speaks through a pineapple.SPS
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