July 2002. A group of Moroccan soldiers occupies the uninhabited Perejil isletlocated a few meters from the North African coast. That caused an immediate military response from Spain to restore the status quo. The crisisbrief but intense, tense to the fullest relations between the two countries and forced an international mediation that culminated with the demilitarization of the islet and a tacit agreement to keep it free of official presence, even today of the diplomatic fragility in the Strait.
In fact, the tension has risen again.
A new climb. Yes, the most delicate strip of the Western Mediterranean, the Strait of Gibraltarit is again in the center of a geopolitical pulse between Spain and Morocco, marked by a succession of diplomatic, operational and symbolic gestures that have reactivated old ghosts, especially around the Islet of Perejil. First it was The confidential the one who revealed a “discomfort.”
Apparently, the recent participation of Delegate of the Polisario Front In the National Congress of the Popular Party it has served as a trigger for a series of Moroccan measures, which include the sudden closure of commercial customs with Ceuta and Melilla, An official letter of the Istiqlal party demanding the popular leader of his adhesion to the Moroccan Autonomy Plan for the Western Sahara, and The reappearance In Castillejos of the Committee for the Defense of the Causes of the Kingdom, an organization linked to Rabat’s intelligence services and headed by the controversial former senator Yahya Yahya.
Return of nationalism. In fact, they counted in an interview In Spanish that with an inflammatory rhetoric and a clear will to provoke, this committee has announced its intention to celebrate a Symbolic meeting in the Islet of Perejil with the explicit objective of claiming the “territorial unity” under the amparo of King Mohamed VI.
Although the landing did not occur, the staging was carefully designed: Photographs with the islet in the background, nationalist slogans and direct references to the policy of the Popular Party. The coincidence with the Anniversary of the Occupation Moroccan of 2002 and the issuance of A documentary miniseries On that episode, a production that has not liked in Morocco and tried to censor without success, underline the symbolic load of the gesture and its propaganda dimension.
Furor frigate
Spain responds. It Europasur counted. In a climate of prudent but firm containment, the General Staff of the Defense has deployed The maritime action ship Fury In the vicinity of Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera and of the island of Alborán, within the framework of routine operations of naval presence and coastal control.
The surveillance of the peñones and islets of Spanish sovereignty on the African coast not only responds to reasons of border security and fight against illicit traffic, but also to the need to maintain the Territorial integrity In front of maneuvers that, although covered with theatricality, seek to test Spanish resilience and tighten the diplomatic line.
Moroccan strategy No doubt, parallelism with the situation prior to the parsley crisis in 2002 is, at least, disturbing. So, Morocco took advantage of the social seizure In the ejido after a wave of racist violence to rehearse a territorial occupation.
Today, episodes such as Pacheco Torre disturbanceswith these clashes between Spanish neighbors and Moroccan citizens, they could be interpreted by Rabat as useful internal cracks to exert pressure. Logic seems to be repeated: use the fragility of the Spanish domestic context to reinforce its thesis About the Western Sahara and his aspirations about Ceuta, Melilla and other territories under Spanish sovereignty.
Symbolism and provocation. In short, while the Spanish government maintains its Official adhesion to the Moroccan Autonomy Plan for Sahara, the Popular Party and other political forces are committed to returning to positions closer to the resolutions of the United Nations, feeding a debate that Rabat instrumentalizes To condition alliances and project strength.
The recent one Group activation Moroccan nationalists, the mobilization of figures close to power and explicit threats against Spanish political actors seems to be part of a broader strategy of hybrid pressure. Of course, the Moroccan flag does not wave in Perejil, but the only attempt to plant it is enough to remember how fragile that thin line remains between the propaganda gesture and the real diplomatic crisis.
Image | EFORGE, General Staff of Defense, Carlosvdehabsburg
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