Morocco's main Islamist party grudgingly accepting relations with Israel, but it is worried about the optics of photo ops with Israelis

The impending peace agreement between Morocco and Israel has been causing a bit of embarrassment to Morocco's Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) which is a major part of the ruling government.

The PJD has been anti-Israel and they are worried about the optics of having to be photographed with Israeli officials this week.

PJD Secretary-General Saad Al-Othmani discussed thiswith party members by emphasizing that the issue of the US recognizing Western Sahara as Moroccan is a priority.

He also said that the Palestinians themselves disagree on the solution to their issue.

A source told the Hespress newspaper that ministers from the Justice and Development Party are preparing "psychologically" to greet their Israeli counterparts and take pictures with them upon signing the partnership agreements between Morocco and Israel, and that that they don't even object to any future visit by an official Israeli delegation to the PJD  headquarters in Rabat.

To justify this, they are mentioning that even Turkish leader Erdogan shook hands with Ariel Sharon and laid a wreath on Herzl's grave.

Another op-ed in Hespress also justifies the impending agreements, saying that the old methods of hiding behind the Palestinian issue as a reason not to move forward is not effective, and emphasizing how much Morocco has supported the Palestinian cause.

The lesson from all this is that even when a carrot helps being a peace agreement, as it did in Sudan, that doesn't take away from the fact that these agreements can cause huge changes in the psychology of Israel's most determined opponents. 

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