Israel has announced that it was recognising Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.

The decision was announced on Monday.

Israel now joins the United States in acknowledging the kingdom’s annexation of the disputed North African territory.

The announcement came shortly after Morocco’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement revealing that King Mohammed VI had received a letter from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recognising Morocco’s claim over the territory.

Mr Netanyahu’s office also confirmed the announcement.

Eli Cohen, Israeli Foreign Minister, had disclosed that the recognition of Western Sahara as Moroccan territory “will strengthen relations between the countries and the nations” and advance regional stability.

Israel and Morocco re-established diplomatic relations as part of the Abraham Accords brokered by erstwhile U.S. President, Donald Trump, between Israel and Arab states.

Although the two countries had low-level diplomatic ties in the 1990s that were disrupted by the Palestinian uprising that began in 2000.

In December 2020, Mr Trump’s administration promised to recognise Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara in exchange for Morocco normalising relations with Israel.

Following the decision, the announcement upset decades of U.S. policy and international consensus that Western Sahara’s status should be settled by a U.N. referendum.

Morocco annexed Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony believed to have considerable offshore oil deposits and mineral resources, in 1975, sparking a conflict with the pro-independence Polisario Front.

The United Nations brokered a cease-fire in 1991 and also established a peacekeeping mission to monitor the truce and help prepare a referendum on the territory’s future.

The Polisario Front renewed armed conflict in 2020, ending a 29-year truce.