Eduardo González
The President of the Government in functions, Pedro Sánchez, received yesterday at the Moncloa Complex the signatories of the manifesto The war must stop. Neither genocide nor terrorism, in which a thousand representatives of the world of culture and journalism condemn the “criminal terrorist actions of Hamas” but warn that they should not serve to “justify Israel’s genocide” in the Gaza Strip.
“This morning I met with representatives of civil society who are actively calling for an end to the spiral of violence in the Middle East,” Sánchez stated via his official account on the social network X. “The priority of the Government of Spain is the protection of all civilians, the release of hostages, avoiding a humanitarian catastrophe and working for a political solution to the conflict based on the coexistence of two states, Palestinian and Israeli, in peace and security,” he continued. “The European Council, at the initiative of Spain, has supported the holding of an international peace conference to materialize this solution”, he concluded.
The manifesto has been promoted by the Recortes Cero collective and supported by personalities of culture and journalism such as the musicians Rozalén and Miguel Ríos, the actors José Sacristán, Clara Lago, Juan Echanove, Charo López, Carlos Hipólito, Emilio Gutiérrez Caba or Marisa Paredes, the film directors Fernando Trueba, Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón or Fernando Colomo, the lawyer Cristina Almeida, the founder of the World Transplant Organization Rafael Matesanz, the former president of the RAE José Manuel Blecua, the former secretary general of CCOO Antonio Gutiérrez, the former leader of IU Gaspar Llamazares, the painter Antonio López, the writers Rosa Montero, Juan José Millas, Benjamín Prado or Rosa Regás and numerous journalists, such as Jesús Maraña, Fran Sevilla, Javier del Pino, Manuel Rico or Pilar Urbano, among many others.
The text condemns “in the strongest terms” the “criminal terrorist actions of Hamas”, but warns that “they cannot serve to justify the genocide practiced by the State of Israel against the Palestinian people”, because “an Israeli life is worth as much as a Palestinian one”. It also accuses Israel of committing war crimes” and demands a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip to stop the “atrocity” and prevent military escalation in the region.
The manifesto defends the right of Palestine to have an independent state and demands Israel to comply with international law and Hamas to stop its terrorist attacks and unconditionally release the hostages. It also calls for UN mediation as a force for peace, urges to work for a “fair peace agreement based on international legality” and calls for the legislative development in Spain of “the proposal approved by Congress urging the Government to recognize Palestine as a State”.
Rafah
Meanwhile, the EU yesterday welcomed the opening of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which has allowed the evacuation of a number of EU citizens and other foreign nationals, as well as injured people.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, thanked “warmly the Egyptian authorities for their admirable efforts to help foreign nationals, staff of international organizations and their families, including European citizens, to safely enter their country,” and the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy and Vice-President of the Commission, Josep Borrell, also thanked Egypt “for its humanitarian efforts to allow people, injured and otherwise, to leave Gaza in an orderly manner, and the United States and Qatar for brokering this humanitarian agreement,” while again calling for “humanitarian corridors and pauses to address urgent needs.”
