Polisario Front Cautions Against Inserting October 7th into Western Sahara Timeline

Two months after the Hamas attack on Israel, analysts suggest that two distinct discourses have emerged on the risk posed by the Polisario Front to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests.

One is the Pre-October 7th discourse, the other is the Post-October 7th discourse.

The Washington Representative of the Polisario Front challenges the marking of such a distinction: “This is a black date in the history of humanity for its consequences, but it has nothing to do with us.”

Rejecting concerns of a “paradigm shift,” Mouloud Said maintains that there have been no significant changes in the conflict since October 7th: “We are the same in avoiding civilians and the Moroccans are the same in killing civilians. Both sides are the same.”

To mark such a distinction “is something that does not make any sense,” argues Said. “October 7th does not exist when it comes to Western Sahara … There is no connection at all … I don’t see any way that people connect with that date.”

Said suggests that this temporal distinction is not being marked to describe the current state of affairs: “Every time there is an event, they try to link it to us” and “October is what sells now.”

Instead, Said believes that it is marked to serve another purpose: “This is to put ideas in people’s heads” and “divert attention from the real problem, which is the occupation of Western Sahara.”

Image Credit: Ecrusized via Flickr CC

Correction: A change was made to the first quote at the request of the source to ensure that the quote was not taken out of context.