Historical Dictionary of Western Sahara Third ... - Scarecrow Press

INTRODUCTION • lxv
on the so-called “war on terrorism.” Even this political equation,
though, looked susceptible to change in the spring of 2004, as Aznar’s
center-right régime was unseated by the Socialist Party headed by José
Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose attitudes on Western Sahara were already
the subject of speculation in the spring and summer of 2004.
By the early years of the 21st century, then, there was still no sign that
the Western Sahara conflict was any closer to a final resolution, one
way or another, than it had been virtually since the beginning of the dispute.
As an essentially secular organization that had always eschewed
terrorism as a tactic since its founding 30 years before, the Polisario
Front had succeeded in attracting the support of some persons and
groups in the United States who were believed to be close to the center
of Republican Party power (just about the only place where it had made
any progress at all inside the United States), but could not yet seriously
challenge Rabat’s still-formidable position. If Morocco’s continuing rejection
of James Baker’s second settlement proposal were to further
anger hitherto-friendly Western countries, and if Polisario could in
some way further improve its standing (beyond being able to head off
proposals which directly threatened its interests), then the path could
one day open for a just and lasting resolution to the problem of Western
Sahara. But even if this did not transpire, it was clear that Morocco
could expect little respite from conflict, as the resistance by the Saharawi
people to outside control—whether by Moroccan sultans and
kings or by Europeans—was a historical fact and would continue for
generations more. Seen in this light, Polisario’s campaign for independence
was only a manifestation of the Saharawis’ ethnic and social distinctiveness
writ large.