« We must fight terrorism as if there were no negotiations, and negotiate as if there were no terrorism. »

Yitzhak Rabin

Between 1956 and 1968, aliyah diplomacy consisted of a succession of negotiations and agreements on semi-clandestine and official emigration, and the first major security and military cooperation between the two countries.

The negotiation and organization of these departures from 1956-57 gave rise to the first indirect and direct Moroccan-Israeli contacts, and helped establish channels of political and diplomatic communication (…).

As Moroccans and Israelis came to an agreement on the issue of emigration, which was of prime importance to the Hebrew state, the development of close political and security relations between Rabat and the new Jewish state was to follow shortly after the 1961 agreement. The aliyah organized from Morocco was a major logistical operation, and the deployment of security arrangements went according to plan.

Security cooperation between Rabat and Tel Aviv soon took on unprecedented proportions. Moroccans and Israelis were soon to extend their areas of cooperation to include the Sand War, security service training and intelligence (…).

Moroccan mediation diplomacy really took off in the aftermath of the October 1973 war, when the Arab-Israeli conflict was once again deadlocked, and the Israelis and Egyptians, with American support, agreed to hold initial contacts in Morocco. These first contacts, which began in 1976, marked the commitment of Hassan II and Moroccan diplomacy to the Arab-Israeli peace process, and would continue for decades to come (…).