Eduardo González
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, concluded his tour of the Middle East yesterday in Qatar, where he announced that Spain will support “the entry of Palestine as a full member of the United Nations” and demanded, at the same time, the recognition of the State of Israel on behalf of its Arab “neighbors,” because “mutual recognition is the key to achieving a lasting solution to this conflict.”
“It is time to move from words to deeds and implement the two-state solution and, to do so, it is necessary to hold an international peace conference as soon as possible and demand a unification of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, under one Authority. Palestine revitalized,” declared Sánchez during the joint press conference with the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al Thani.
“The recognition of the Palestinian State is a key piece for the materialization of the two-state solution, and I, as President of the Government of Spain, have committed myself to ensuring that my country, Spain, takes that step and takes it as soon as possible,” when the conditions are appropriate and in a way that this decision has the most positive impact possible on the entire process to achieve peace,” he continued.
“In addition, we are going to support, I already announced, the entry of Palestine as a full member of the United Nations,” he added. In this regard, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, announced in the morning, in statements to the press upon his arrival at the meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, that Spain is going to “recognize Palestine as a Sovereign State (…) and all sovereign States on the planet have their place in the United Nations.” “But let’s not anticipate events, that debate will come,” he added.
“But I would like to point out that it is also important to advance the recognition of Israel by its neighbors, because I believe that mutual recognition is the key to achieving a lasting solution to this conflict that has lasted for too many years,” Pedro Sánchez continued. “Israel and Palestine are going to need a lot of international support and accompaniment to follow the difficult but necessary path to peace,” he warned.
During the same press conference, Pedro Sánchez lamented that, since his first trip to the Middle East after starting the legislature, the situation “has only gotten worse.” “The death toll in Gaza has doubled, the humanitarian catastrophe continues to worsen and violence continues beyond the Strip, particularly in the West Bank, with a certain risk of regional escalation,” he said.
The only “positive” element, he continued, is that “the international community is uniting around a clear position, which is to stop this war,” as demonstrated by the recent United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire during Ramadan. “It is imperative that this resolution be fulfilled and I call for the ceasefire to be permanent,” he said.
In addition, he continued, “steps have been taken in the European Union, perhaps insufficient, but steps have been taken.” “It is essential that the European Union plays an active role in the search for solutions,” because “our credibility is in question when it comes to demanding respect for the principles on which our political project is based and defending the rules.” international, and our security is also at stake,” he warned.
World Central Kitchen
On the other hand, Pedro Sánchez described as “insufficient and unacceptable” the “alleged” explanations of the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, regarding the death of seven humanitarian workers from World Central Kitchen (WCK), the NGO of chef José Andrés, in which assured that the attack carried out by an Israeli drone was not “intentional.”
“Of course, we are waiting for a much more detailed, much more detailed clarification of what the causes were, the reason for this bombing, also taking into account that, from what is known so far, the Israeli Government knew about the action and of the itinerary of this NGO on the ground in Gaza,” declared Pedro Sánchez. “From there, we will see what actions we take regarding Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government,” he warned.
Pedro Sánchez, who was also received yesterday by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, held a meeting with more than fifteen representatives of Spanish companies with interests in the country, with whom he was able to discuss possible investment plans. of these companies and those who listened to their concerns. Likewise, he held a meeting with seven leading women in different areas of Qatari society, such as the business world, sports and science, to whom he highlighted the Government’s feminist foreign policy.
