The 10th of December will mark the first anniversary of Morocco declaring it would normalise relations with Israel, thus becoming the sixth Muslim nation to ink a deal with the Jewish state, after Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Sudan.
But Amine Ayoub, a social entrepreneur and freelance consultant, says ties have been developing "quite slowly".
Unlike the UAE, where trade with Israel has exceeded half a billion dollars and with whom it has signed a number of mega-deals, including in the fields of medicine, defence, banking, and cybersecurity,
cooperation with Rabat has been limited to only a few areas.
In the field of aviation, the two states have agreed on direct flights but the arrival of Morocco's first plane, which was supposed to land at the beginning of December, was delayed due to the discovery of a
new COVID-19 variant, Omicron.The coronavirus pandemic has also bogged down progress in terms of tourism. Prior to the outbreak of the virus in 2020, Morocco saw tens of thousands of Israeli visitors a year but that number plummeted dramatically as a result of restrictions in both nations.
Only in the fields of defence and security have the two nations registered a significant advancement. In November, Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz visited Morocco, where he
signed a memorandum of understanding that cemented relations between the two and made it easier for Tel Aviv to sell arms to Rabat.
Yet, a challenge remains to those relations -- public opinion in Morocco. Last October, several months before the normalisation deal was signed, a poll found that
88 percent of Moroccans rejected a potential agreement with Israel.
When the pact was finally announced, Moroccans took to the streets to vent their anger and protest against the move. Similar rallies have also been held throughout 2021.
Morocco, a Sunni majority country, has always been supportive of the Palestinian ambition for statehood, and it has been frustrated with the policies of Israel vis-a-vis the Palestinians.
Ayoub says this pressure is unlikely to force the local authorities to change their course.
Angry mobs are not expected to take to the streets of Morocco for yet another reason - the economy.
Morocco's economic growth has been hampered by a drought and the outbreak of the pandemic. Unemployment and poverty rates have continued to be major issues bothering both experts and the public alike.