The Arab country of North Africa, Morocco, and the European country of Spain, are separated by the Mediterranean Sea and the Strait of Gibraltar. For a long time, the two countries have maintained a traditional special relationship, and Spain is Morocco's second largest trading partner and one of the major donors and investors. At the same time, there is a territorial dispute between the two countries. Morocco has been demanding the recovery of its territory, the two "enclaves" under Spanish rule, ceuta and Melilla, and some of the islands in the southern Mediterranean, such as Perehill Island, which are close to moroccan shores, and Spain insists on sovereignty over those territories.
The three sticking points in Morocco's territorial dispute with Spain
Since the 15th century, Morocco has been invaded by Western colonial powers. On March 30, 1912, France forced Morocco to sign the Treaty of Fez, reducing Morocco to a protectorate. In November of the same year, France signed the Treaty of Madrid to partition Morocco with Spain, and Morocco's northern Rif and southern Ifni were designated as Spanish protectorates, and the strategically important city of Tangier became an international condominium. For a long time, the Moroccan people had persisted in their struggle against colonial domination and partition.
On March 2, 1956, France was forced to agree to abrogate the Treaty of Fez, recognizing Morocco's full independence. Spain also recognized Moroccan independence and renounced its protectorates in northern and southern Morocco, but it continued to occupy the two enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla in Morocco, as well as a number of islands off the coast of Morocco in the southern Mediterranean, including Perehill Island, which became "Spain's last colonial legacy in Africa".
i) Ceuta
Ceuta is strategically located on Morocco's northernmost Mediterranean coast, across the sea from the port of Gibraltar, and secures the only gateway between the Mediterranean sea and the Atlantic Ocean——— the eastern strait of Gibraltar. Ceuta covers an area of about 18. 5 square kilometers, 82,376 inhabitants (2011), 25 kilometers from continental Europe, 90 minutes by ferry to the port of Algeciras in Spain, which can be viewed from the headlands of the Spanish coast on sunny days.
In the 7th century BC, the Phoenicians began to establish strongholds in Ceuta, and later the Greeks, Romans, Vandals, and Visigoths occupied the area. In 711 AD, the Arabs captured Ceuta. From the 8th century to the early 15th century, Ceuta was a port in Morocco. In 1415, Ceuta was occupied by the Portuguese and became the first colonial stronghold established by Western invaders on the African continent. In 1580, Spain seized Ceuta from portugal and developed it into an important port and naval base. In 1668, Spain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Lisbon, and Ceuta was officially assigned to Spain. In 1694, the Moroccan Sultan Moulay Ismail led an army to besiege Ceuta in an unsuccessful attempt to retake the city. After Morocco's independence in 1956, Ceuta remained part of Spain. In 1987, the Spanish government granted Ceuta semi-autonomous status. In March 1995, Ceuta became one of the municipalities with fully autonomous status in Spain.
ii) Melilla
Located on the Mediterranean coast of northeastern Morocco, about 240 kilometers from the Strait of Gibraltar, Melilla is an enclave on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa, surrounded on three sides by Moroccan territory. Named after the Melilla people who once lived here, it covers an area of about 12.3 square kilometers and has a population of 78,476 as of 2011.
Historically, the Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines and Berbers all occupied the land. From the 8th century to the end of the 15th century, Melilla belonged to Morocco. In 1497, Spain occupied Melilla, making it an important port and base for further expansion into Morocco. In May 1767, King Mohammed III of Morocco and King Charles III of Spain signed an agreement granting security assurances to any "Christian or (other) apostates" entering Ceuta and Melilla, and preliminarily delineating the boundaries of the two places; Later, the two sides signed a number of treaties to further clarify the boundaries of the two places, such as the 1859 treaty stipulating that the longest range of the Type 24 cannon is the border of Melilla. In 1860, war broke out between Morocco and Spain, and the victorious Spain gained the right to expand its territory around Melilla through an unequal treaty. Soon after, Melilla was declared a free trade city by Spain to counter the economic and trade infiltration of Britain, France, and Germany into Northwest Africa, and a large number of Spaniards flocked to the area. Between 1905 and 1915, the number of civilians in Melilla increased threefold to 36,700, and the number of guards soared from 2,700 to 36,000. After Morocco's independence in 1956, Melilla remained part of Spain. In March 1995, Melilla, together with Ceuta, became a municipality in Spain.
Ceuta and Melilla are about 250 km by sea and 500 km by land, there are no commercial flights or trains between the two places, and road traffic takes about 7 hours. The troops stationed in Ceuta and Melilla accounted for about 8%-13% of the total Spanish forces, and if you add the troops deployed on the southern coast of Spain, this proportion will reach more than 15%, while the population of the two places is only 0. 3% 。 The existence of Ceuta and Melilla creates many contradictions: these two towns are located on the poorest continent in the world, but belong to the world's largest and richest trading bloc; Although they are located in Africa, most of their inhabitants are Europeans like Belgians or Germans.
iii) Perehill Island
Perejil Island is located in the southern waters of the Strait of Gibraltar, just 250 meters south of the Moroccan coast and 13% off the Spanish mainland in the north. 5 km, about 8 km east of the Spanish municipality of Ceuta, west of Tangier, the important town of northern Morocco, 40 km, the area is only 0. 15 square kilometers, it is an uninhabited desert island called Leila Island in Morocco.
Due to its strategic importance, Perehill Island has always been a place of contention, and the historical background surrounding its sovereignty dispute is very complicated. In 1415, the Portuguese occupied the island of Perehill. After Spain annexed Portugal in 1580, the island belonged to Spain. In 1808, the British built fortifications on the island to control the entry and exit of French ships into and out of the Strait of Gibraltar. During the 19th century, Spain, Great Britain, and Morocco all claimed sovereignty over Perehill Island. In 1835, the United States tried to pay for the strategic island, but was unsuccessful due to British opposition. In 1887, Spain sent an expedition to build a lighthouse on the island. In 1912, britain renounced its claim to sovereignty over the island, after which Spain sent five soldiers to the island. During World War II, Pereyhill Island became a German military stronghold, and Nazi troops built bunkers on the island.
After World War II, Spain continued to assert undisputed sovereignty over the island. Morocco, for its part, believes that some of the islands off the southern Mediterranean coast, including Perehill Island, are its own territory and that Spain's claim to them lacks historical and practical basis. After the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982, the importance of islands has become more prominent, not only related to the issue of territorial sovereignty, but also related to the interests of maritime control and marine resources, the competition between countries for large and small islands and even reefs has intensified unprecedentedly, and the contradictions between Morocco and Spain around the sovereignty of islands along the Mediterranean coast such as Perehill Island have also tended to sharpen.