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Algeria will not normalize with ‘colonial’ Israeli entity: Deputy parliament speaker

Wednesday, 16 August 2023 9:29 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 16 August 2023 11:41 AM ]

In this file picture, Palestinian protesters chant slogans and wave the national flag and the Algerian flag during a demonstration in Bethlehem, the Israeli-occupied West Bank, following the weekly Muslim Friday prayers. (Photo by Getty Images)

The deputy speaker of the Algerian parliament says the North African country will not join other Arab countries in the normalization of ties with Israel, as it deems the regime a colonial entity that could never integrate into the Arab world.

Moussa Kharfi told the Arabic service of Russia’s Sputnik news agency on Tuesday that Algeria will maintain its adamant refusal to establish ties with Israel, even if it stands alone on that path.

He underlined that Algeria will not accept any sort of normalization at whatever cost and will stand against any attempt that would encourage such a decision.

Algeria has suffered for decades from colonialism, and knows very well about the menace and its fallout, he said.

“We consider Israel to be among the colonial entities, and it cannot be part of the Arab world one day,” Kharfi stated.

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Israeli support for Morocco on Western Sahara designed to stoke conflicts: Academic

He also argued that the normalization of ties with Israel is simply confined to the state level, and the nations of those Arab states categorically reject the process.

Algeria has been one of the few Arab states to maintain a pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist stance. Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra has repeatedly urged Arab countries to support the Palestinian people instead of supporting Israel’s expansion in the region.

Under the so-called Abraham Accords, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco signed US-brokered normalization deals with the Israeli regime in late 2020. Palestinians have denounced the deals as a “betrayal” to their cause.

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US recognition of Morocco’s claim over Western Sahara illegal: Algeria

Morocco’s decision to normalize ties with Israel came after former US president Donald Trump recognized the North African country’s “sovereignty” over Western Sahara, which has been at the center of a decades-old territorial row between Morocco and the Polisario Front.

The Algerian foreign ministry later rejected Trump’s stance, saying the US decision “has no legal effect because it contradicts UN resolutions, especially UN Security Council resolutions on Western Sahara.”

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