Press Release
Britain and Spain are Grappling for Leadership in Gibraltar,
While Morocco is Fast Asleep!
(Translated)

On Tuesday 13/8/2013, the British warships began to head to the Mediterranean Sea to conduct naval manoeuvers where the frigate HMS Westminster will set in Jabal Tariq (Gibraltar). It is one of four ships that will participate in the Cougar 13 training in the Mediterranean and the Gulf, which will last for four months. Britain is accustomed to undertaking military manoeuvers in the Gibraltar Strait which always provoked anger and protest from Spain due to Gibraltar's leadership conflict.

These manoeuvers come amid an atmosphere of dispute that escalated between Britain and Spain over Gibraltar, after the mountain's authority threw rocks in one of the Algeciras beaches, in order to encourage marine life, hence, Spain took advantage of this under the pretext of guarding the Spanish fishermen in order to raise the issue of Gibraltar once again where it has tightened its border control procedures on the grounds that Gibraltar is not a member of the Schengen area just like Britain, then in response to the summoning of the Spanish Ambassador by the British Foreign Ministry, Spain raised the degree of conflict, as was announced by the Spanish Foreign Minister regarding his country's intention to impose tax of 50 euros value on each person crossing the border from Gibraltar to Spain, threatened to close the airspace of his country in the face of all flights flying to Gibraltar, and by taxing the property of the people within the Spanish regions. The dispute reached its peak on Monday after a spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron said that the Spanish action was politically motivated and is an unprecedented step, and that Britain is considering legal prosecution of Spain. Spain immediately responded by threatening to refer the case to the United Nations.

No rational person would believe that Spain would resort to the United Nations because rocks thrown into the sea, but it was an excuse it invented in order to renew the issue of Gibraltar, which is an autonomy colonized by Britain, and make it at the top of its priorities. This came in conjunction with the British manoeuvers which it became accustomed to doing to assure the greatness of Britain and to ensure that Britain will not compromise Gibraltar which has a strategic, military and intelligence importance, with a major area being a British air and naval base, as well as an intelligence base. It also has an international circumstance where its airspace and waters can be crossed without seeking the permission of Spain and Morocco, and it is the control point for international navigation. On Gibraltar's south lie the Muslim countries of North Africa, which the West considers as an unstable region and thus poses a threat, which calls for the presence of its forces nearby for any intervention. Last May, America sent the rapid intervention unit located in North Africa to the Morón Air Base in southern Spain to be near the intervention areas in Africa if it received the command.

All this occurs while Morocco snores in deep sleep without paying any attention to the security and interests of Morocco, as if Britain and Spain are not struggling over the control of a strategic point in order to spy on Morocco and the region, and take control over the entry and exit of the Mediterranean sea, as well as take this point as a springboard for military intervention in the southern side of the Mediterranean as if Morocco is not located on a sight-view of Gibraltar.

Morocco has always stood alongside Britain in its conflict with Spain. In the past year of 2012, British forces conducted manoeuvers in Gibraltar Strait, with the help of Morocco, where it has authorized the use of its airspace, enabling British aircraft flight in the entire strait. Every time Spain raised the issue of its sovereignty over Gibraltar and demanded its return, Morocco sparks Spain's occupation to Ceuta, Melilla and the islands of Morocco which weakens the position of Spain and presents it to the international community as an occupier, making the solution to Gibraltar is the filtering of the occupied Moroccan cities and islands, turning the Spanish-British file as three parts: Spanish-Moroccan-British. For example, in 2002, Morocco contributed in the ruin of an agreement for a joint rule between Spain and Britain to Gibraltar, Morocco ruined this agreement by sending down forces on 11.07.2002 on the island of Leila, in an unexpected and unprecedented move, which made Spain direct its war hostilities in the region's direction and intervene militarily to evacuate the island from Moroccan soldiers, prompting Morocco to send a message to the Security Council in this regard and to recall the demands of Morocco on Ceuta, Melilla and the rest of the islands. This event had a deep impact on the strengthening of the British position in its negotiations with Spain on joint sovereignty over Gibraltar.

However this time, Spanish stances are escalating in intensity with complete liberation from any Moroccan intervention, which reminds us of the commitment made by Yusuf Al-Imrani last April, the Delegate Minister for Foreign Affairs the Cooperation of the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs and Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo Cooperation of Spain, that Morocco does not raise any discussion regarding the situation of the occupied cities of Ceuta and Melilla.

Also, the Moroccan palace is still haunted by the dilemma which the King of Spain placed the King of Morocco in, which is to release a group of Spanish prisoners that included a human beast accused of raping 11 children, King Mohammad the Sixth complied with this request, a decision that sparked outrage in Morocco, shaking the King's image strongly internally and externally.

O Muslims in Morocco,

This is how Spain defends its sovereignty over Gibraltar and this is how Morocco stays silent over Spain's occupation of Ceuta, Melilla and the Moroccan Islands, showing no regard towards defending Morocco's vital interests.

In the context of the Spanish-British dispute, Morocco this time added to its silence over the existence of an intelligence military base which threatens its security and spies upon it, a silence over the demand to free Ceuta, Melilla and the Moroccan Islands.

The name of Jabal Tariq (Gibraltar) goes back to the Muslim leader Tariq bin Zeyad's conquer the lands of Al-Andalus, and its name will remain witness over Jabal Tariq and Al-Andalus as Muslim lands, that lived under the light of Islam for eight decades, reminding us that we should be aware of the sovereignty dispute over it, demanding us to raise the flag of Islam overhead rather than the flags of Spain or Britain.

The Khilafah "Caliphate" State, alone, will be able to defend the interests of the Muslims, protect their security, free their lands and shut colonial states' military intelligence bases in their lands and on their borders. It was narrated by Abu Az-zinnad on the authority of Al-A'raj on the authority of Abu Hurairah that the Propher (saw) said:

"إِنَّمَا الْإِمَامُ جُنَّةٌ يُقَاتَلُ مِنْ وَرَائِهِ وَيُتَّقَى بِهِ"

"Verily, the Imam is a shield, from behind whom you fight and by whom you are protected."

The Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir / Morocco