Palestinians and Israelis alike followed the match between the Moroccan national team and its Spanish counterpart with great emotion, given the close ties between this region and Morocco and the love anchored in the hearts of both peoples towards the Kingdom.
Wonderful scenes of celebrations have been observed since Tuesday evening in several towns and villages in the region. For example, in the city of Lod, located between Al Quds and Tel Aviv, city council meetings were suspended to watch the penalty shootout, before the meeting turned into a gathering to exchange congratulations and analyze the national team’s well-deserved victory.
In the village of Kafr Manda north of Nazareth, fireworks were launched to celebrate the historic achievement of the Moroccan national team. In Foridisi near Haifa, a crowd of Israeli and Arab citizens also came out to celebrate the qualification in a festive atmosphere.
Many Jewish families also gathered in homes to watch the game and support the Atlas Lions by waving the Moroccan flag and singing Moroccan songs.
In Gaza, hundreds of spectators gathered in the downtown hall to watch the game, waving Moroccan flags, calling for victory, before taking to the streets to celebrate the Lions’ qualification for the World Cup quarterfinals in Qatar.
In this moment of joy, many people expressed their wishes for more victories for the Moroccan national team, which has been able, thanks to its historic performance, to unite people despite the differences that the region knows.
The same feelings were expressed in Al-Quds and in the West Bank cities, after this historic achievement of the National Eleven. In the city of Nablus, a wedding procession turned into a rally to celebrate the achievement of the Moroccan national team.
The Palestinian and Israeli media and social networks were also flooded with messages of congratulations and praise for the Moroccan national team.
The word Mebrouk (Moroccan Darija for ‘congratulations’) was the most used expression by Israelis and Palestinians to express their great joy following the historic victory of the Moroccan national team.
On Tuesday night, in an atmosphere of joy and jubilation, the host of a live broadcast on Israeli channel 24, also brandished the Moroccan flag and distributed red tarbooshes to his guests, in a studio in Moroccan colors.
For a place in the last four, Morocco will face Saturday night in the quarterfinals against Portugal, which beat Switzerland Tuesday night by 6-1.
