Moroccans protest Trump's Mideast plan, support Palestinians

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People gather for a demonstration in Rabat, Morocco, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2020. Thousands of Moroccans took part in a march rejecting Trump's Middle East peace plan and in support of Palestinians. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)

RABAT – Thousands of people marched in Morocco's capital Sunday to protest U.S. President Donald Trump's peace plan for the Mideast and to oppose what they see as the Moroccan government's lenient position toward it.

Moroccan political leaders, from Islamists to left-wing figures, took part in the march through Rabat alongside union members, activists, and members of civil society groups. Palestinian flags and chants animated the scene as protesters criticized the Trump-led peace initiative.

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The marchers also expressed frustration with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, who declared his country's "appreciation" for Trump's plan and urged its citizens not to be “more Palestinian than the Palestinians themselves.”

Trump's plan for a solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict would foresee the eventual creation of a Palestinian state, but it falls far short of Palestinian demands and would leave sizable chunks of the occupied West Bank in Israeli hands.

Many Arab countries and the European Union have rejected the plan as unfair. At Sunday's protest in Rabat, Mohammed Doukali of the Unified Socialist Party said Morocco should do the same.

"The masses are here to say that their rejection of normalization with Israel should be translated into an official position," Doukali said.