It is out of the question for the escalating crisis between Morocco and Spain to end through official containment, seeing how its repercussions have spilled over into the popular level. Rabat found itself being led into opening a new front with Madrid against the backdrop of the violence to which Moroccan nationals were subjected to, at the hands of the Spanish police on the border crossings of occupied Melilla. For their part, the Spanish authorities found themselves in a difficult spot after Rabat deported Spanish nationals from the Al-Oyoun city in the Sahara provinces, some of whom claimed to have been subjected to violence in light of the staging of a pro-Polisario protest deep inside the Sahara (which is in the Moroccan Kingdom's sphere of influence). Such actions are hard to dismiss as coincidences, since while the Moroccan nationals did nothing but raise the Moroccan flag on their car, the Spanish tourists appeared in video clips carrying the flags of the Polisario. Ironically, the Spanish who used to occupy the Sahara until 1975, i.e. when the Madrid agreement was signed and stipulated the evacuation of the Spanish forces and administration from the province, are now its most enthusiastic defenders. But the more shocking paradox here is that the Polisario Front which says it was established to fight the Spanish occupation of the Sahara, now finds itself closer to the Spanish than to Morocco with which it shares blood ties. However, the government of Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero adopted a rational position, thus expressing its conviction in the Moroccan justifications, as Zapatero stressed there is no problem in meeting with Morocco. For its part, the opposition People's Party perceived the governmental stand as being some sort of surrender, which meant that the issue will not end at this point. On the other hand, just like the relationship between Morocco and Spain has become the main issue of interest for the Moroccan public, the relations between Spain and Morocco is also casting its shadows on domestic divisions in Spain. As soon as the two countries announce their containment of a temporary crisis, another erupts, irrespective of the wish for real normalization that would spare the neighbors the dangers of escalation. Amid this series that is not void of intrigue, the staple fact is that Madrid was the one that chose to remain a party in the Sahara issue. Furthermore, it became extremely upset during the term of former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar, when the international mediator James Baker decided to grant France the role of overseeing the political solution which he had proposed in the first draft of his self-determination plan. At the time, Madrid perceived this step as being an exclusion of its role in the settlement, although it is a former colonizer of the province. What was missing during that period was that Madrid was not seeking participation in the solution, but rather to put more pressures on the states of the region, especially Morocco and Algeria, in order to secure an exceptional regional situation that would allow it to enjoy the same level of influence as France does in North Africa. Had things gone its way in the context of its former alliance with the United States in the war on Iraq, it would have been able to impose its agenda in the region at the time. However, the Spanish socialists understood the facts of the region much better, and proposed the idea of a wide-scale solution that would include Madrid, Rabat, Paris and Algiers, and why not Washington during the term of President Barack Obama. The problem is that the Spanish tried to use human rights activists to pressure Morocco in the Sahara, to the point where tourists who were supposed to come and enjoy the desert sand and calm, did not find any problem protesting in the streets of Al-Oyoun in the face of a pro-Morocco demonstration. However, they did not foresee how this card could be used against them, especially in the face of Moroccan activists protesting in the face of the Spanish authorities and demanding that they immediately pull out from Ceuta and Melilla. Still, some treatments require more shock therapy to achieve healing, it seems.
