Eduardo González
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, expressed this Wednesday his total rejection of the intention of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, to take control of the Gaza Strip to “permanently” displace its inhabitants.
“I want to be very clear: Gaza is the land of the Gazan Palestinians and the Gazan Palestinians must remain in Gaza,” declared Albares during a press conference at the ministerial headquarters of the Viana Palace.
“Gaza is part of the future Palestinian State, for which Spain is betting, which has to live and coexist guaranteeing prosperity and security to the State of Israel, for which we also want a complete normalization of its relations with the Arab countries,” he continued. “Spain and the Spanish people will support them, as we are supporting them at this time with the humanitarian aid of the Spanish Cooperation Agency that is entering Gaza,” he concluded.
During a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump announced Tuesday that the United States intends to “take control” of the Gaza Strip and take charge of rebuilding the territory to turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East,” where “people from all over the world” will reside. This will involve, he added, the demolition of its current buildings and the forcible and “permanent” displacement of its Palestinian inhabitants.
This is not the first time that Trump has proposed something similar. At the end of February, the American president proposed that Egypt and Jordan take in the million and a half displaced people from the Gaza Strip for “housing” in the medium or long term, at least while the process of rebuilding the enclave lasts. The two countries have rejected this proposal and the Palestinian Authority has described it as a “flagrant violation of the red lines.”
In response to Trump’s request, Albares declared from Brussels that “the place of the Gazans, of the Palestinians of Gaza, is precisely in the Gaza Strip” and that “what we have to do is help them with their most basic needs and with reconstruction.” “Gaza is part of the future Palestinian State!” he warned. “We have to establish, as soon as possible, a single Palestinian National Authority in Gaza and the West Bank and what we all have to do, and very clearly the European Union, is help the Palestinians in Gaza,” he added, before the meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council.
