Morocco–Spain relations island for centuries. Diplomatic ties were not restored until January 2003. That July, Morocco complained that Spain lacked neutrality on the Sahara issue when it chaired the United Nations Security Council and, in October, Spain suspended arms sales to Morocco due to the Perejil crisis. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero visited Morocco in April 2004, and King Juan Carlos I visited in January 2005; on both occasions, joint statements called for a negotiated settlement to the Sahara issue—the Moroccan position. However, visits to Ceuta and Melilla by the Spanish prime minister in January 2006 and monarchs in November
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero the electoral campaign. In 1996, after the General Election, Zapatero kept his seat at the Congress of Deputies. The following year, Zapatero was again elected Secretary General of León and after the national conference held by the party that year he entered the National Executive (the party's governing body). The Association of Parliamentary Journalists awarded to Zapatero the "Diputado Revelación" prize (something like "Most promising MP of the year") in December 1999 for his activities as a member of the Congress of Deputies. From 1996 until 2000, his most conspicuous contributions as an MP were his vigorous opposition to the