Eduardo González
Both the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, highlighted yesterday before the members of the Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee on Gaza that Spain’s decision to recognize the Palestinian State should contribute to peace through two-state political solution and, therefore, urged Arab countries to “normalize relations with Israel” and recognize the Jewish State.
Pedro Sánchez held a meeting in La Moncloa with the members of the Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee on Gaza, one day after Spain, Norway and Ireland formally recognized the State of Palestine. The meeting, in which José Manuel Albares was present, was attended by the prime ministers of the Palestinian Authority, Mohamed Mustafa, and of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Bin Jassim Al-Thani (who also hold the Foreign Affairs portfolio), together to the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Turkey and the secretary general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).
The Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee on Gaza, or Gaza Contact Group, was created in November, following the joint summit of the Arab League and the OIC held in Riyadh, with the aim of achieving a ceasefire, the delivery of aid humanitarian and the establishment of an action plan for the realization of the two-state solution. It is made up of the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Turkey, Indonesia, Nigeria and the secretaries general of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
During the meeting, as reported by Moncloa, Pedro Sánchez informed the members of the Ministerial Committee that Spain has made the decision to recognize the State of Palestine with the aim of contributing to the achievement of “peace, the search for justice and the defense of a rules-based international order.
The President of the Government also warned of the need to work on a political solution, which involves seeing this recognition of the Palestinian State as “an active contribution to the achievement of peace” and encouraged “the States that have not recognized Palestine or Israel to initiate a process to do so without delay,” as well as support Palestine’s accession as a full member of the United Nations. Currently, only a few Arab countries recognize Israel: Egypt and Jordan, signatories of two peace agreements, and Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Sudan, based on the so-called Abraham Accords sponsored by the then president of the United States, Donald Trump.
Subsequently, Albares received the members of the Contact Group on Gaza at the ministerial headquarters of the Viana Palace. “Today we meet here to once again highlight, all together, the need for the importance of recognizing the State of Palestine as a path to peace,” said the minister during the reading of the statement without questions offered to the media at the beginning. of the meeting.
“Yesterday Spain took a historic step to advance the two-state solution: we have recognized the State of Palestine just as we recognize the State of Israel,” Albares continued. “We are convinced that the two-state solution, a coexisting State of Palestine and a State of Israel, is the only way to peace and prosperity for the region,” he said.
For this reason, he announced, “after the recognition of the State of Palestine, we will continue working on the implementation of this two-state solution.” “We are going to continue working to join Spain, Ireland and Norway, the 146 countries that have already done so, more European countries, and, with our Arab partners and friends, to normalize the relations of Arab countries with Israel,” he assured.
For his part, the Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, assured during the statement that the members of the Contacts Group were in Madrid “to thank Spain for giving us hope in a very dark moment.” Likewise, the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, Mohamed Mustafa, affirmed that the decision of Spain, Ireland and Norway lays the foundations for a new beginning for the region, and the Jordanian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Ayman Safadi, affirmed that the three countries did “the right thing” and expressed his hope that “other States, especially European ones, follow this example”
The Middle East “sneaks” into the national debate
On the other hand, Pedro Sánchez and the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, turned yesterday to the Middle East conflict to bring out their mutual reproaches on matters of national politics. During his speech at the Government control session in the Congress of Deputies, Pedro Sánchez assured that the recognition of Palestine is not only in line with “the feelings of Spanish society”, but also “with international legality, the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council and the position that the European Union has traditionally maintained.”
During his turn to speak, Feijóo accused Sánchez of “hiding” from the Spaniards that the investigating judge Juan Carlos Peinado had already attributed the “investigated status” to his wife, Begoña Gómez, since he admitted the Clean Hands complaint to the court. , on April 16, and asked him to “not use any more excuses” and stop “using” the Argentine people or the “noble cause of the Palestinian people” to avoid clarifications about this alleged case of corruption.
In his response, Sánchez accused Feijóo of “continuing to splash around in the mud.” “By the way, what do you think of the photo that Mr. (Santiago) Abascal (Vox leader) took with Mr. (Bentamin) Netanyahu (Prime Minister of Israel) encouraging him to continue with the bombings in Gaza and Rafah ? “This is a free government that defends peace and international legality and you are slaves to your pacts with the extreme right,” Sánchez asked Feijóo.
For her part, the second vice president of the Government and leader of Sumar, Yolanda Díaz, accused Abascal in Congress of having met with Netanyahu “48 hours after” the Israeli Army “burned a camp with boys and girls inside.” This visit turns the members of Vox into “unconditional allies of those who are committing genocide against the Palestinian people, against the women and children of Gaza,” she added, in response to a question from Abascal’s party.
“Where is Mr. Feijóo, when his partner is with a war criminal?” asked Díaz, who assured that Abascal’s photo with Netanyahu and “Feijóo’s silence” will “haunt” both of them “during all their lives.”
The vice president vindicated the use of the expression “from the river to the sea” – for which she has been harshly criticized by Israel, which claims that it is a Hamas motto – because, she stated, “on the 104th day of the war of Gaza, Mr. Netanyahu said that the State of Israel has to control the entire territory, from the river to the sea, because that is what happens when war is waged.” Furthermore, she assured, UN Resolution 181 of 1947 defends “two States that coexist in peace from the river to the sea.”
