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Israel-US Delegation Pays Historic Visit to Morocco After Signing Peace Deal, Netanyahu Says

MOSCOW/TEL AVIV (Sputnik) – An official US-Israeli delegation embarked on Tuesday on a landmark visit to Morocco on the first direct flight from Tel Aviv to Rabat, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Sputnik

"Good luck to the historic delegation departing from Tel Aviv to Morocco on the first direct flight between the countries," Netanyahu wrote on Twitter.

Netanyahu attached a picture of the boarding pass of Israel's El Al flag carrier with the word "peace" in three languages – English, Arabic and Hebrew – and the image of hamsa, a protective palm-shaped amulet used by both Jews and Muslims. The LY555 flight was scheduled to depart at 09:30 local time (07:30 GMT).

The joint delegation is led by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, who arrived in Israel the day before, and National Security Council head Meir Ben-Shabbat. The delegation is due to sign the first package of documents on cooperation between Israel and Morocco within the recent normalization agreement.

US President Donald Trump announced at the start of December that he had brokered a peace deal between Israel and Morocco, which entails the establishment of full diplomatic relations and air travel between the two nations, as well as the US recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty over the Western Sahara.

Morocco became the fourth Arab state to normalize ties with Israel this year after the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan.

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