The latest round in the bitter dispute over the tiny Perejil Island took place in Rabat yesterday when Spain's Foreign Minister, Ms Ana de Palacios, paid a lightning visit for discussions with her Moroccan counterpart, Mr Mohammed Benaissa.
The mood was tense as the two ministers faced each other across the table in the ministry.
Mr Benaissa was not at the airport to meet Ms de Palacios when her Spanish air force Falcon jet touched down at Rabat Airport, nor was he waiting to welcome her on the steps of the ministry.
Mr Benaissa wanted to open a broad dialogue to include all differences between the two countries. But the Spanish agenda contained only one item, the Perejil Island crisis, and Ms de Palacios refused to discuss other matters. Mr Mariano Rajoy, Spain's Deputy Prime Minister said Spain was making a sufficiently conciliatory gesture by agreeing to hold the talks in Rabat.
Ms de Palacios said that with her visit she hoped to improve relations between the two countries which have been tense for almost a year.
They have fought bitterly over fishing rights in waters traditionally fished by the Spanish but which Morocco considers its own; they have differed over imports of Moroccan tomatoes; and most particularly Spain sided with the Sahauri people against Morocco in their struggle for independence for the disputed Western Sahara.
Rabat recalled its ambassador to Madrid last October, although the Spanish ambassador remained in his post in Rabat until last week, when he was recalled only a couple of hours before Spanish troops liberated the islet and sent the occupying Moroccans back home last Wednesday.
The Spanish forces withdrew from Perejil on Saturday night, leaving the island to a few hardy goats and the occasional scuba diver.
One group who will doubtless lose out are the professional smugglers, who used the caves on the island to store their cargo, whether humans or drugs. The authorities, both Spanish and Moroccan, will be keeping Perejil under closer scrutiny in future, thereby depriving the smugglers of their hiding places.
Spain says it has no desire to occupy the inhospitable island, but merely wanted to restore it to its pre-July 11th status quo, the date when a dozen Moroccan troops invaded Perejil.
Although it is only a few hundred yards off the Moroccan coast, Spain considers Perejil ("parsley" in English) forms part of the Spanish North African enclaves along with Ceuta and Melilla. It believes the surrender of any of the half-dozen similar islets along the coast could be a thin end of the wedge for Morocco to reclaim Ceuta and Melilla.
As Ms de Palacios was in Rabat, her Secretary of State for Europe, Mr Ramon de Miguel, was in Brussels informing European foreign ministers about the Parsley War, and its successful conclusion.
He thanked them for their "solidarity and support" during the crisis.