Morocco's Diplomatic Calculus: Hedging as a Foreign Policy Strategy in the Context of Normalization with Israel and the Gaza War

This research examines Morocco’s dual-track policy toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a hedging strategy that combines normalization with Israel and sustained commitment to the Palestinian cause. It asks how this posture can be understood as hedging and what the Gaza war reveals about its coherence, trade-offs, and sustainability. The analysis shows that Morocco preserved strategic cooperation with Israel, while reinforcing normative commitment through humanitarian action and multilateral positioning, and managing domestic pressure through calibrated discourse and symbolic restraint. Overall, the case supports the argument that Morocco’s approach is best explained as a deliberate attempt to maximize room for maneuver under uncertainty rather than as a rupture with Palestine. Keywords: foreign policy, hedging, Israel, Morocco, normalization, Palestine.