Closing of the esplanade of the Mosques in Jerusalem / The rise of the escalation in Israel risks to drip on the summit of Lomé

Fusillade, closed mosque, prayer canceled, tensions between Jews and Arabs are reviving and raging. Jerusalem, an old city in the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the scene a few days ago of a bloody attack. Last Friday, three Israeli Arabs shot and killed two Israeli policemen. The reply was systematic. The assailants were killed by Israeli security forces on the esplanade of the mosques, the third holy place of Islam, where they had fled. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after the Friday prayers were canceled, decided to close down the ultra-sensitive site in East Jerusalem. This Tel Aviv decision provoked a general outcry in the Muslim world that sees the Zionist attitude "the worst aggression since 1967" against this site.


Not only does this new escalation have unfortunate, even dangerous, consequences for Tel Aviv as a diplomatic offensive on the African continent, but also and above all, it is the famous Africa-Israel summit scheduled to take place next October in Lomé which is suffering. This new episode of the Israeli-Palestinian crisis can only reinforce the reluctance of several African countries, mainly Muslims and their Gulf allies, hostile to the establishment of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories and calling for a boycott of the meeting Of Lomé. An overwhelming majority of states, for historical, ideological and religious reasons, have no diplomatic relations with Israel. Despite the presence of Benjamin Netanyahu at the recent ECOWAS summit in Monrovia (capital of Liberia) to rally around the Lomé summit, and the return to normal relations between Dakar and Tel Aviv, several heads of state and government African people are not ready to shake hands with her.



In addition to Togo, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Cote d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana and Zambia, with whom the Hebrew state has a special relationship, Niger, Mali, Mauritania, but also Gabon and other countries that would still enlarge the list could shine by their absence to not toast with their Arab partners. Rabat, on the other hand, does not hide his antipathy with Tel Aviv. Expected at the summit of Monrovia, the King of Morocco had changed. Mohammed VI canceled his trip to avoid any "amalgamation" or "confusion" related to the embarrassing presence of Benjamin Netanyahu. Niger, which has also distanced itself, has shown its gestures of sulking by sending a non-presidential delegation.

New Pertussis in Africa, Morocco which is expanding strongly on the continent, remains one of the first investors in West Africa. In the subregion, it is a privileged partner. Moroccans are in the fields of banking, transport and telecommunications. In Togo, they are the owners of Orabank, Moov Togo, Air Maroc and many other things. With this influential position, the Shereef Kingdom could possibly embark with it other countries to boycott the Africa-Israel summit in Lome. "Several countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) have just complained to the AU and want reprisals against Togo, or even simply cancellation of this event", believes to know "The Letter Of the Continent "in its delivery No. 757 of July 12, 2017.


The closer the Africa-Israel summit is, the more Lomé must be concerned. While the Togolese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Integration, Robert Dussey, announced the presence in Togo of some thirty states as part of this summit, anti-Israel, crazy with rage, More and more intransigent and imperturbable in their position. Even if sources announce the presence in Lome of several agents of the secret services of Israel including the famous Mossad, the bet of the success of this appointment is not yet gained for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in diplomatic offensive and Faure Gnassingbé in search of repositioning on the international scene by clinging to Tel-Aviv-Lomé axis.