[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 18219]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                  IN MEMORY OF KING HASSAN OF MOROCCO

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I rise to recognize the death of the Arab 
world's longest-standing leader, King Hassan II of Morocco, who died 
last Friday at the age of 70. To his family, and to the people of 
Morocco, I extend my heartfelt condolences.
  King Hassan ruled Morocco for 38 years as only the second King of 
Morocco in that country's modern, independent history, having succeeded 
to the throne after the death of his father, King Mohammed V, in 1961, 
only five years after Morocco gained its independence from the French.
  Morocco, however, is an ancient country and the country with which 
the United States has its oldest uninterrupted diplomatic relations. 
Our two countries signed a Treaty of Peace and Friendship in 1786, 
which the United States ratified the following year. Thus began a 
relationship that provided our tall ships a haven in the 18th century 
and developed into a relationship of geostrategic importance in the 
20th century.
  This special friendship was cherished in modern times by leaders in 
both of our countries, particularly King Hassan, and I was pleased to 
see that President Clinton, along with former President Bush, attended 
King Hassan's funeral this weekend. America lost a good friend, a wise 
counsel on the region, and an important and brave promoter for peace in 
the Middle East.
  One of the biggest challenges for the Arab world, as in other parts 
of the world, has been the challenge of modernization, and how leaders 
encourage their governments and societies to rise to this challenge.
  We have seen several models: secular socialist dictatorships, radical 
fundamentalist regimes, and traditional authoritarians. King Hassan, 
whose remarkable career spanned from the era of decolonization to the 
doorstep of the next century, demonstrated that the traditional model 
could adapt to the economic and political challenges of modernization. 
He understood that tradition was not the enemy of the modern, but could 
ease the transition by providing stability and respect for his people 
while allowing political and economic reforms to unleash the 
fundamental strengths and dreams of his people.
  For his adept stewardship, he earned the deep and sincere affection 
of the vast majority of Morocco's nearly 30 million citizens.
  Beginning as a traditional authoritarian, the King recognized the 
importance of constitutional governance early in his reign and expanded 
political rights through the years. In doing so, he was one of the most 
successful leaders in the Arab world in reconciling traditional 
monarchy with the requisites and demands of modernity. King Hassan in 
recent years had furthered political reform such that, today, the lower 
house of parliament is elected through universal suffrage from a roster 
of multiple parties, and the governing coalition, including the Prime 
Minister, is controlled by the opposition.
  Concomitant with these political reforms has been a steady 
improvement in the human rights situation, marked, in some significant 
cases, by reconciliation with and compensation for victims of the past. 
While power still resides predominantly with the crown, King Hassan, by 
advancing political democracy and the free market, allowed his people 
and provided his son, King Mohammed VI, with the fundamental platform 
on which Morocco will proceed confidently into the next century.
  Mr. President, no remarks on the legacy of King Hassan can be 
complete without recognizing his prescient view of reconciliation 
between Israel and the Arab world. Many note that some of the initial 
meetings preparing for the signing of the historic Camp David accords 
occurred with King Hassan in Morocco. The fact is that the King of 
Morocco had been providing opportunities for encounters and dialogue 
for years before then, showing that the King had a wise vision for 
peace as well as a pragmatist's approach for moving toward this noble 
goal.
  From the 1960s to the late Prime Minister Rabin's visit to Morocco in 
1993--which was, by the way, only the second Arab nation visited by an 
Israeli leader, after Egypt--King Hassan of Morocco demonstrated that 
he recognized the permanent role that the Jewish state had to play in 
the affairs of the Middle East. In this, as in many other areas, King 
Hassan was a leader among leaders.
  Morocco's new king, King Mohammed VI, has many challenges before him. 
He, along with King Abdallah of Jordan, represents the new generation 
of leaders in the region: highly educated, understanding the West, 
cognizant of the realities of the region, and faced with enormous 
domestic economic challenges. Morocco's is a youthful population, 
straddled with an unacceptably high illiteracy rate and an unyielding 
demand for economic development. These are extremely tough challenges 
to burden a new and young king. But let us recall the youth of King 
Hassan when he assumed the throne in 1961 and the misplaced doubts 
about his future. We recognize today the legacy of King Hassan to his 
son and his nation.
  The United States should assist in the continuing modernization of 
Morocco and the continuing cooperation to create a more peaceful Middle 
East. So should continue a special relationship into the 21st century 
that began so propitiously in the 18th.

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