Morocco denies 'baseless' plans to build Holocaust centre

Morocco has denied "baseless" reports that a foreign national is seeking to build a memorial and educational centre for the Holocaust near Marrakech. 

Morocco said authorities have not authorised or granted a licence to any foreign national to build a project to commemorate the 6 million Jews who were murdered by Nazi Germany during the Second World War, dismissing reports circulated by Israeli media.

Authorities said the establishment of any such project is subject to legal procedures, and requires obtaining administrative licenses.
 
It follows a report in the Jerusalem Post that said German non-profit organisation Pixel Helper is seeking to build an educational centre in Morocco to teach what it considered the "horrors of the Holocaust" for adults and school children.

This would be achieved through direct representatives, facilities and exhibitions, with the establishment of a memorial to commemorate the Holocaust.

The reports branded the centre as the first of its kind in north Africa and will be strategically located about 26km southeast of Marrakech to attract as many tourists as possible.

Pixel Helper founder Oliver Pinkowski told the Israeli newspaper that the memorial would consist of more than 10,000 pieces of stone that visitors can browse.

Activists in Morocco opposed to any signs of normalisation with Israel called on the government to issue clarification on the plans, prompting authorities to respond.

Israel's occupation of Palestine is still widely seen as an obstacle to improving ties between the Jewish state and its Arab neighbours.

But for the Saudi kingdom and its allies in the Gulf, Israel's shared enmity with Iran may trump the powerful and popular anger over an Arab state normalising ties with Israel, though formalising such an alliance, however, could be hard to achieve.

A controversial but lucrative natural gas deal between Jordan and Israel - which have had diplomatic relations since the 1990s - was subject to years of mass protest, with critics claiming the kingdom buying the "enemy's gas" amounted to "occupation".

Resistance against normalisation with Israel led more than 2,000 citizens from various Gulf countries to sign a petition "to stop all forms of normalisation with the Zionist entity”.

Israel has diplomatic relations with only two Arab countries - Egypt and Jordan, while Morocco is believed to have unofficial ties with the country.

But Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have long had unofficial relations with Israel.

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