Peaceful relations with Morocco took another step forward on Monday as a visiting delegation of Moroccan officials arrived Monday to lay the groundwork for the opening of a liaison office in the Jewish state.
The administrative delegation will inspect the building that hosted the Moroccan liaison office in the late 1990s. Rabat had preserved the Tel Aviv office even after severing ties in 2000, when the Second Intifada erupted.
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The delegation is also expected to prepare for the visit of a more senior Moroccan delegation, at a still undetermined date.
Meanwhile, Israel intends to open its office in Rabat in the same building it used before ties were severed. Both countries were working swiftly to reopen the offices in accordance with their recent peace accord, setting their sights on the coming days.
Morocco is the third Arab nation this year to normalize ties with the Jewish state under US-brokered deals, while Sudan has pledged to follow suit.
Four bilateral deals were signed Tuesday between Israel and Morocco, centering on direct air links, water management, connecting financial systems and a visa waiver arrangement for diplomats.
The countries are also due to reopen diplomatic offices.
On Friday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Morocco's King Mohammed VI and invited him to visit Israel.
Netanyahu also thanked King Mohammed for hosting a historic joint Israeli-American delegation last week.
The Moroccan king's royal office issued a statement saying that, in his conversation with Netanyahu, the monarch recalled "the strong and special ties" between the Jewish community in Morocco and the monarchy, and reiterated "the consistent, unwavering and unchanged position of the Kingdom of Morocco on the Palestinian issue and the pioneering role of the kingdom in promoting peace and stability in the Middle East."
The kingdom has North Africa's largest Jewish community of about 3,000 people, and Israel is home to 700,000 Jews of Moroccan origin.
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