Posted on 01/07/2014 8:53:04 AM PST by Olog-hai
King Juan Carlos of Spain told Britain that Spain “did not really want” Gibraltar back as it would lead to claims from Morocco for Spanish territories in North Africa, newly declassified documents from the 1980s released by the Foreign Office reveal.
The King of Spain admitted privately in a meeting with the then British ambassador to Madrid, Sir Richard Parsons, that it was “not in Spain’s interest to recover Gibraltar in the near future”.
If it did so, “King Hassan would immediately reactivate the Moroccan claim to Ceuta and Melilla,” the monarch, who celebrated his 76th birthday on Sunday, reportedly said during the meeting in Madrid in July 1983. …
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Not to mention the Moroccan claim to Spain.
um... I fail to see the connection between the two issues.
The Moroccans do not need to invade (again). They just need to be patient.
Look up “Andalusia”, which the Muslims called “al-Andalus”.
My remark is partly (but only partly) tongue in cheek. Al Qaeda claims Spain because Islam once ruled it. Muslim immigrants in Spain are pushing for the right to worship in some key Spanish cathedrals because they sit on the site of an ancient mosque. There is a muslim push-back with Spain helped along with wide-open illegal immigration.
Now, the Ceuta and Melilla issue, the king might be right. They are two enclaves in Morocco that are Spanish. Morocco does claim them, and does point to the parallel with Gibraltar to buttress their claim.
Of course, Morocco claims about half of Saharan Africa.
It will depend on how robust and confident the Spanish are prepared to be, to demand Gibraltar and refuse to cede Ceuta. As it is, they are a source of illegal immigration as Africans crawl over the fence into the enclaves and then just ride the ferry to Spain.
Both are remnants of the old colonial regimes.
If Spain has to choose, they should keep the North African territories; this really gives them control of the Straits of Gibraltar. Gibraltar itself is not the southernmost point in Spain anyway; it doesn’t reach the Atlantic Ocean.
Juan Carlos is having a hissy-fit. A recent poll shows that 90% of Spaniards want him to abdicate. Now, with this comment, they’re gonna run him out of Madrid...
I thought “Andalusia” was named for the Vandal invasion.
That’s true, but modern-day Islamists refer to the area as “al-Andalus” notwithstanding.
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