Palestine, Western Sahara are at the core of Algerian diplomacy: Algerian FM

On Algeria's national day of diplomacy on Sunday, the country's foreign minister said the Palestinian cause and the Western Sahara dispute are at the core of Algier's diplomacy.

During his speech, Ramtane Lamamra, lauded the country's battle against French colonisation for more than a century, stressing that Algiers will always stand with the colonised against the colonisers.

"[Algeria] believes in the power of truth and steadfastness on principles for just causes, such as the Palestinian cause and the cause of the people of Western Sahara, because what Algeria has experienced confirms that colonialism, no matter how long it lasts, has its inevitable end," added the minister.

The Algerian minister has also hailed the expected meeting of thirteen Palestinian factions in Algiers this week as a significant opportunity to end divisions among the Palestinian people.

Starting from Tuesday, Palestinian factions will hold roundtable talks in Algeria under the auspices of president Abdelmadjid Tebboune to reach a unified Palestinian draft for the upcoming Arab summit.

The Palestinian delegations, including Hamas and Fatah members, started arriving in Algeria over the weekend.

On the other hand, Lamamra's statements, which hinted at a "similarity" between Morocco's control over Western Sahara to Israel's colonisation of Palestine, extinguished any hope that the recent friendly interactions between Rabat and Algiers could flourish. 

Last month, Algeria's justice minister Abderrachid Tabi visited Rabat to hand Moroccan officials an invitation to attend the Arab summit next November, in the first official visit between the frenemies since halting ties last year.

Reports say the Moroccan king will attend the summit personally for the first time since 2005.

The news pumped hopes for a future in which Rabat and Algiers end conflicts and open borders.

However, Said Saddiki, a Moroccan professor of international relations at the University of Mohammed Ben Abdellah, argued that the rivalry is far from over.

"Algeria and Morocco are unlikely to change their diplomatic strategies [on Western Sahara] over the next few years as both countries are competing over being the leading power of the region," Saddiki said to The New Arab.

The Moroccan expert argues that ending the Maghreb rivalry could only be done through "compatible ways of dialogue and to navigate wisely the historically charged disputes that divide the region."

The Moroccan-Algerian rivalry is rooted in several diplomatic and political disputes, namely Western Sahara, in which Algeria supports the separatist Polisario Front fighting against Rabat.