Less than two weeks after US President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Morocco will normalize diplomatic relations, US officials were expected to arrive in Israel on Monday to hammer out the final details of Tuesday's historic trip to Rabat by a joint Israeli-American delegation.
On Monday, a delegation of senior White House officials was to land in Israel, headed by senior Trump adviser Jared Kushner, who was to be accompanied by US Special Representative for the Middle East Avi Berkowitz, Adam Boehler, the CEO of the US International Development Finance Corporation, and other American officials.
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Together with US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, the American representatives were to meet on Monday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi and other senior Israelis. The sides were to finalize the remaining details of the first-ever nonstop flight from Tel Aviv to the Moroccan capital.
The Israeli delegation, which will be headed by National Security Adviser Meir Ben Shabbat, will be in Morocco for 24 hours.
National flag carrier El Al said on Sunday it would operate the first flight from Israel to Rabat, which is expected to last six hours.
A senior Israeli member of the delegation told Israel Hayom, "The desire is to develop widespread relations in all fields and also establish full embassies."
Morocco became the fourth country in as many months to announce its plans to normalize ties with Israel at the Trump administration's behest, following the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan.
A senior official in Rabat, meanwhile, spoke with Israel Hayom and noted the excellent relationship between the countries' respective intelligence agencies.
"There's a considerable amount of cooperation. Mainly in terms of preventing radical Islamist terrorism," a senior Moroccan intelligence official told Israel Hayom. "The fact that countries such as Bahrain, the UAE and Sudan took a similar step made things easier. We are all happy that the king [Mohammed VI] made the right decision.
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