Moroccan Chamber of Councillors president's visit to Israel's Knesset cancelled

Enaam Mayara, Speaker of the Moroccan House of Councillors, was due to visit Israel's Knesset on official business on Thursday, according to a statement from the Israeli parliament, but the visit has been cancelled due to his hospitalisation in Jordan following a medical emergency. The official, who was to lead a Moroccan delegation, is expected to attend a working session authorised by a joint statement at a later date. Mayara's upcoming visit expresses a reality about the potential for widening peace circles in the Middle East, according to Amir Ohana, speaker of the Knesset, who is of Moroccan-Jewish descent.

"This visit, which is unprecedented, marks the beginning of a new phase in relations between Israel and Morocco. Greeting and congratulating my friend Enaam Mayara, Speaker of the House of Councillors, on his historic visit is a pleasure on my part," he said. 

Amir Ohana, the Speaker of the Knesset, who visited Morocco's parliament last June, was quoted in the press release as saying: "What better way to express the great ties between our nations than to foster strong ties between their parliaments". "It is a visit that will set precedents of the new era that has been born on the basis of relations between the two," he concluded. 

What, from both sides, was primarily a pipe dream is now a reality. Ohana stressed that the promise and hope in Israel-Morocco relations "underscores the potential for broadening peace in the Middle East". Normalisation of relations with Morocco under the Abraham Accords in 2020 has run into obstacles. Rabat dropped plans to host this summer's Negev Forum in June in opposition to Israeli settlement announcements.

Since it was initially scheduled for March, the meeting of Foreign Ministers from Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, Egypt and the United States has been repeatedly postponed due to escalating hostilities between Israelis and Palestinians, as well as some Arab leaders' dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hardline administration. 

The Speaker of the House of Councillors was to participate in a ceremony that included a festive guard of honour, the raising of the Moroccan flag and the playing of the Cherifian (Moroccan) anthem for the first time in the Knesset after receiving an official welcome with music by the Israel Police Band. A special ceremony was scheduled to take place in the Chagall State Hall where Speaker Mayara was to have the honour of signing the Knesset visitor's book. 

Knesset Speaker Deputy Ohana and the Moroccan delegation are scheduled to meet in a working session immediately after the formal events once Mayara's visit to Israeli territory can be completed when he recovers, after which they are expected to issue a joint statement to the media.