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The Sahara belongs to Morocco just as much as "Israel" belongs to Palestine (which, according to the UN, is an actual occupied territory). Besides, speaking of
by pearjuice 10y ago
The Sahara belongs to Morocco just as much as "Israel" belongs to Palestine (which, according to the UN, is an actual occupied territory). Besides, speaking of "Africa's Last Colony", when is Spain giving Ceuta and Melilla back to Morocco?
- merkozy 10y agoCeuta and Melilla were under Berber rule a very short time but they never were Moroccan, which is an Arab state. In fact Europeans (Greeks, Romans, Vandals, etc) were in the coast of North Africa much earlier than the Arabs were.
- gorkamorka 10y agoCeuta and Melilla were part of Spain lomg before Morocco even existed, so no. There is nothing to return to Morocco.
- IkmoIkmo 10y agoWrong, these towns existed before Spain was even formed as a nation. i.e. it's not Spanish by origin. Take Ceuta, it was settled essentially by a power from what is now Tunisia, which itself was a colony of a middle-eastern power (mostly what is now Lebanon), this was hundreds of years before christ. Spain was formally formed more than two thousand years later. Since then, it's changed hands many times. Fact is, it sits in a region that for thousands of years prior to the concept of the nation state was inhabited by berbers, the Moroccan people. To consider it somehow morally 'theirs' isn't unreasonable, to consider it a remnant of European imperialism is also not unreasonable. But to consider it, politically, Spanish today, is also fully reasonable. Just like North America isn't the land of native americans anymore, and as sad as that history may be, it's something that must be accepted today and moved on from. I see Ceuta and Melilla similarly, they were once part of Moroccan territories but have been in Spanish hands for the last four hundred years, and developed by Spain for so long, inhabited by Spaniards for so long, it's simply Spain. That won't change anytime soon. But to say it was Spanish long before Morocco existed is silly, because Morocco predates Spain (depending on your definitions of states) by a thousand years, and it wasn't Spaniards that first settled Ceuta either. That's Ceuta, as for Melilla, it was a berber (read: north-african, in this case moroccan) village by origin, not an Iberian or Spanish or Andalusian village or w/e. Just prior to Spain taking Melilla, it was part of the kingdom of fez. Which is a Moroccan kingdom.
- AtlasLion 10y agoMost of Spain was in Moroccan hands for even longer than Ceuta in Spanish hands, should Morocco now ask for al andalous back?
- BurningFrog 10y agoThese are all ancient Roman lands, by Caesar!
- AtlasLion 10y agoby the same reasoning, there was never a Western Sahara as a country, so there is nothing to return to anyone.
- Pica_soO 10y agoFirst come, first meddling with history books, first serve. :D