As an international lawyer I find Mr. Ennaji's comment illustrative of the distorted view of the conflict over Western Sahara held by some Moroccans and their allies. In fact the International Court of Justice in 1975 held just the OPPOSITE of what he has claimed. It first held, in the Western Sahara Case, that Western Sahara was not terra nulls, or uninhabited, prior to the Spanish colonization, but rather that it was inhabited by nomadic tribes which were socially and politically organized. (paras 81 to 83). After thoroughly analyzing Morocco's claims of "historic ties" to the territory, it found those claims to be "far-flung, spasmodic and often transitory" and concluded that there was a " paucity of evidence of actual display of authority unambiguously relating to Western Sahara" on the part of Morocco, which negated its claim to "effective occupation" of the territory in pre-colonial days. (para 101) It concluded that the material provided by Morocco "does not establish any tie of territorial sovereignty between Western Sahara and [Morocco]."(para 107). Consequently, by a vote of 14 to 2, the Court concluded that the information and evidence before it ". . . did not establish any tie of territorial sovereignty between the territory of Western Sahara and the Kingdom of Morocco . . ." Unfortunately, on the very day the Court's decision was published King Hassan lied to the people, claiming falsely that the Court's decision supported Morocco's claim, and this lie has been perpetrated ever since. Moroccans, you don't have to believe me, READ THE DECISION FOR YOURSELF! It is on the internet.

As far as Ms. Palacio's comments are concerned, it would be laughable how biased and untrue they are if it were not for the fact that comments from so-called "reputable sources" are widely believed by an unsuspecting public. If you really want to know about the issues involved in this dispute, I suggest you read the two reports issued by the Bar Association of the City of New York on the legal issues involved in the conflict: the use of the natural resources of the territory by Morocco and the right to self-determination of the people of the territory. You will soon learn that Morocco is NOT complying with international law in its use of the phosphates, fishery resources or other resources of the territory, and has stifled the attainment of self-determination for the people of Western Sahara.