Normalisation deal sparks turmoil within Morocco’s Islamist party | Mohamed Mamouni al-Alawi

Normalisation deal sparks turmoil within Morocco’s Islamist party | Mohamed Mamouni al-Alawi

RABAT--The Moroccan Justice and Development Party (PJD) is going through unprecedented internal turmoil due to conflicting positions among its leaders and supporters regarding the signing of an agreement to resume relations with Israel by  the PJD Secretary-General and Prime Minister Saadeddine Othmani.

Some of the members of the PJD went as far as calling for a freeze of Othmani's membership for violating the party's principles, and his referral to the National Arbitration Committee by the General Secretariat.

To contain the angry reactions, the party's General Secretariat held an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday, announcing its full understanding of the expressed reservations while expressing at the same time its support for Othmani, who has been performing his duties as the second highest official in the country.

According to a statement released on Wednesday, the General Secretariat of the PJD also expressed its sympathy with reactions in the support of the Palestinians– reactions that “confirm Morocco's position and its essential role in advocating for this cause.”

On his Facebook page, the PJD's former General-Secretary Abdelilah Benkirane called on the critics to “stop exerting pressure on Othmani to submit his resignation, because such acts will create a political crisis.”

“The state should not be a field for childish games,