Michael Coy
WE sometimes say “I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.” What we mean is, the thing that happened might have had serious consequences, but it was ludicrous on its face.
The invasion of Parsley Island was just such an event.
Parsley Island (“La Isla de Perejíl”) is a rock off the coast of Morocco. Its name in the Berber language, “Tura”, tells you all you need to know about the place. It means, “empty”.
The rock is 220 yards off the Moroccan coast, and is utterly uninhabitable.
So why is it the focus of a tragicomedy? Well, because of its location.
Parsley Island lies in the Strait of Gibraltar, exactly at the point where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Mediterranean. If you stand on the sterile lump of stone, you can easily see both Morocco and Spain.
And Gibraltar is not very far away.
It is one of the world’s classic “choke points”.
On 11 July, 2002, Moroccan military units “occupied” the island.
In order to understand why, we need to discuss Ceuta and Melilla.
It sometimes comes as a surprise to British people to learn that there are “Spanish Gibraltars”. Two cities on the Moroccan mainland, Ceuta and Melilla, are Spanish enclaves.
If you go there, you see Spanish police, the shops have Spanish signs, but you’re on African soil.
On Morocco’s “Throne Day” in early July, feelings run high, and some Moroccans – in a surge of patriotic enthusiasm – want to do something about these “bits of Spain” on their territory.
But Morocco is well aware that it has to tread carefully.
An ‘associate’ of the EU, the African kingdom is doing well economically out of its friendship with Europe. It has extensive fishing rights, and a thriving tourist industry (though nominally Muslim, it’s very relaxed about things like alcohol).
To enter Ceuta by force would trigger an international crisis, and seriously threaten Morocco’s prosperity. But perhaps a gesture could be made by seizing that rock where parsley is the only resident?
Moroccan sailors (later, soldiers) landed on La Isla de Perejíl. They had to bring food, water and tents, because there’s nothing there.
So now the ball was in Madrid’s court.
A dozen guys on an island off their own coast were posing no threat to the Spanish state. They could be safely ignored.
Or could they?
Can a modern country tolerate an infringement of its sovereignty? If you allow an invasion, aren’t you inviting other, worse, attacks?
It was on 18 July, 2002, that Spain launched Operation Romeo Sierra – the recapture of Parsley Island. As four helicopters ‘inserted’ special forces on the rock, a Spanish gunboat shadowed its Moroccan equivalent.
There was token resistance, but nothing serious.
The Spanish soldiers were under strict orders – “we want zero casualties, and you may not use firearms unless attacked”, they were told. Thankfully, it all went according to plan. The Moroccans surrendered peacefully.
Both countries still claim the island as “theirs”, but even the Spanish soon withdrew their men after a suitable period of occupation.
Today, as before, there’s nothing there.
Except for the parsley.
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