Moroccans protest Trump's Middle East plan and support Palestinians

Thousands of people marched in Morocco's capital on Sunday to protest U.S. President Donald Trump's peace plan for the Middle East and to oppose what they see as the Moroccan government's lenient position toward it.

Moroccan political leaders, from Islamists to left-wing figures, took part in the march through Rabat alongside union members, activists and members of civil society groups. Palestinian flags and chants animated the scene as protesters criticised the Trump-led peace initiative.

The marchers also expressed frustration with Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, who declared his country's "appreciation" for Trump's plan and urged its citizens not to be "more Palestinian than the Palestinians themselves.''

Trump's plan for a solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict would foresee the eventual creation of a Palestinian state, but it falls far short of Palestinian demands and would leave sizeable chunks of the occupied West Bank in Israeli hands.

Many Arab countries and the European Union have rejected the plan as unfair. At Sunday's protest in Rabat, Mohammed Doukali of the Unified Socialist Party said Morocco should do the same.

"The masses are here to say that their rejection of normalisation with Israel should be translated into an official position," Doukali said.    (AP)