This explains why EU members support or at least remain silent toward the Spanish occupation of these territories. NATO members, particularly the U. So, it is difficult to imagine that any state in the world would accept that one country can control the two shores of the Strait of Gibraltar.
This will happen when Spain restores the Rock of Gibraltar, without giving up the Spanish-controlled territories in North Africa to Morocco. Fencing the two enclaves is part of a comprehensive strategy which has taken several forms and steps aimed at perpetuating the status quo.
Granting autonomous status, passing immigration laws and organizing visits by the Spanish King and ministers are key elements of this strategy. Since the adoption of this law, Ceuta and Melilla officially became autonomous cities within the Spanish juridical framework. The granting of autonomy contains a clear message for Morocco to the effect that any claim to recover the enclaves would complicate the status quo of Spanish occupation. Moreover, this change-of-status involved the inhabitants of Ceuta and Melilla as third parties in the dispute, which further complicates the question of the two enclaves.
Some commentators argue that the loosening of ties between the Spanish central government and the two towns by the granting of autonomy might be regarded as a provocation. By increasing the power of a population, it is even more likely to resist incorporation into Morocco than it was the authorities based in Madrid.
For example, Spain passed a new immigration law in in preparation for its entrance into the European Community. According to this law, the majority of Muslims living in the enclaves could only apply for Spanish citizenship after ten years of residence. In addition, possession of an identity card meant that they would have to wait ten years to apply for citizenship and there would be no guarantee they would acquire it.
On the other hand, without this document, they would be liable for deportation. This had been expressed by some right-wing Spanish newspapers.
The danger of theses fences is that the EU financial support for their construction might be considered as an implicit recognition of their being the de facto EU southern border. Therefore, regardless of the competition for regional influence in the Strait of Gibraltar and any unrest between Morocco and Spain that may be fuelled by the continued Spanish occupation of Ceuta and Melilla, maintaining the current status quo in the region remains the most acceptable option for all international actors concerned.
Liverpool: Liverpool University press, , p. He alleged civilizational fault lines replaced the political and ideological boundaries of the Cold War. Rezette, The Spanish Enclaves in Morocco. Paris: Nouvelles Editions Latines, , p. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, , p. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, , p. Sovereignty in an Age of Globalization.
New York: Columbia University Press, , p. Washington: The World Bank, , pp. Geneva: International Labour Office, Creative Commons - Attribution 4. Check if your institution has already acquired this book: authentification to OpenEdition Freemium for Books. You can suggest to your institution to acquire one or more ebooks published on OpenEdition Books.
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OpenEdition is a web platform for electronic publishing and academic communication in the humanities and social sciences. Desktop version Mobile version. Open Book Publishers. The Fences of Ceuta and Melilla. Border Fencing in India1. The U. World of Walls Said Saddiki. Search inside the book. Table of contents. Cite Share.
Cited by. The Fences of Ceuta and Melilla 1 p. Text Notes. Full text. Zoom in Original jpeg, k. Visit to Ceuta and Melilla on Illegal Immigrati Paris: No New York: Columbia Universit The press. Some key dates in the history of Ceuta and Melilla:. Ceuta and Melilla Spanish territories. Image source, Getty Images. Moroccan protesters opposite the island of Perejil demand an end to the Spanish "occupation".
In Spanish troops were sent to eject Moroccan police from the island. Hundreds of migrants daily try cross the substantial border fences separating the Spanish territories from Morocco.
Related Topics. The ports were re-captured later in what is known as the Reconquista - the military campaign to evict the Muslims from what is now Spain and Portugal. Both cities were captured by Spain between the 15th and 16th century - roughly the same time Christopher Columbus was "discovering" America and paving the way for eventual European colonization of both North and South America.
For the Muslims, Ceuta and Melilla are a painful reminder of Muslim defeat and humiliation by rising Western, Christian powers. Even the Arabic Wikipedia describes the two cities as Moroccan under Spanish control.
However, although Morocco went to war to capture Western Sahara after the Spanish evacuated the territory in , its pursuit to regain control of Ceuta and Melilla has been lukewarm at best. Crucially, Morocco failed to press its case at the UN, to include them among territories that are yet to be decolonized, also known as non-self-governing territories.
You may also be interested in:. Moroccan political scientist Samir Bennis says after independence from Spain and France, Morocco acted in good faith, assuming the issue would be resolved amicably in the future, but the Spaniards didn't respond in kind. Today, Spain rejects categorically any talk of negotiation on the two cities, and insists that they have been Spanish for more than five centuries and that they are an integral part of the Spanish state. But Mr Bennis questions the Spanish claim on historical and legal grounds.
But what does international law say on the claim and the counter-claim? There are significant legal and political barriers to any change in status of those territories in favour of Morocco," writes Dr Jamie Trinidad of Cambridge University in the UK.
The idea of Morocco taking over these cities against the wishes of their populations is almost unthinkable in this day and age," he adds. In other words, even if there were ever a dramatic change in the balance of power and the question of sovereignty was put to the people of Ceuta and Melilla, what are the chances of them ever opting to be ruled by Morocco rather than a European democracy?
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