Marrakech \u2013 In an unexpected move, Spanish authorities have removed their flag from the uninhabited islands known as \u201cEl Bar\u201d and \u201cEl Bahar,\u201d located off the Mediterranean coast of Morocco near the city of Al Hoceima.<\/p>\n
Also called \u201cEarth Island\u201d and \u201cSea Island,\u201d these islands had flown the Spanish flag for more than twenty years, creating persistent diplomatic tensions between Madrid and Rabat.<\/p>\n
According to<\/a> Spanish media, the flags that had been flying over the islands for more than two decades have recently disappeared, in what has been interpreted as an implicit retreat from the \u201csymbolic sovereignty\u201d that Spain had maintained over these disputed territories.<\/p>\n This move rekindles memories<\/a> of the 2002 diplomatic rupture between Rabat and Madrid, when Moroccan forces peacefully deployed a small unit on Leila Island \u2013 also known as \u201cPerejil\u201d \u2013 to assert rightful sovereignty.<\/p>\n Spain retaliated with disproportionate military force and diplomatic pressure, only for the standoff to be defused through American mediation, ultimately restoring the pre-crisis status quo without resolving the underlying dispute.<\/p>\n Since then, Spain has clung to what it euphemistically calls \u201cmanifestations of symbolic sovereignty,\u201d hoisting its flag on the islands and enforcing draconian restrictions on access, in a futile attempt to cement a colonial relic.<\/p>\n 21 islands remain haunted by unfinished colonial history<\/b><\/p>\n Spain\u2019s occupation of Moroccan territories dates back centuries. The Iberian power seized Melilla in 1497 and took control of Ceuta in 1668 after it had been under Portuguese occupation since 1415.<\/p>\n Spain also occupied the Chafarinas Islands near Nador in 1848, the Alhucemas Islands since 1673, and Badis Island since 1564.<\/p>\n These occupations were established through military force during the era of colonial expansion, carving out pieces of Moroccan geographic territory and maintaining control through military installations that continue to this day.<\/p>\n Despite the warming ties since Spain\u2019s historic U-turn<\/a> in April 2022 \u2013 when it recognized Morocco\u2019s sovereignty over its Sahara and rectified a decades-long diplomatic betrayal \u2013 the two small islands remain an enduring symbol of unresolved border tensions.<\/p>\n These uninhabited rocks continue to embody a lingering, silent conflict over sovereignty in the western Mediterranean, spotlighting that Moroccan-Spanish relations, though mended on the surface, still cry out for adamantine clarity, reciprocal dignity, and an unflinching reckoning with the colonial debris that poisons true partnership.<\/p>\n The Spanish enclaves<\/a> represent anachronistic vestiges of colonialism that contradict Spain\u2019s own arguments regarding Gibraltar.<\/p>\n While Spain invokes geography and territorial integrity to demand the return of Gibraltar from Britain, it conveniently buries those very principles when it comes to Morocco\u2019s legitimate claims \u2013 exposing a blatant double standard rooted in post-colonial hypocrisy.<\/p>\n What makes this situation particularly striking is that while Spain removed its flag without any official announcement, it continues to maintain large military bases in occupied Moroccan territories.<\/p>\n