<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares has called on the EU to suspend the Association Agreement with Israel, impose an arms embargo on the country, and adopt individual sanctions against individuals who impede the two-state solution, no excluding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.</strong></h4> “Gaza is an open wound in humanity for which we see no end. Silence is complicit in this massacre. We are meeting with countries with governments of different persuasions and religions. We refuse to accept that violence will become the way of relating between Palestinians and Israelis,” Albares declared before the start of the Madrid Ministerial Meeting + for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, held at the ministerial headquarters of the Santa Cruz Palace. The meeting was attended by the European and Arab countries that have led this initiative, along with Spain, and have been meeting in Madrid since September 13, 2024. “If the war does not stop, the Association Agreement between the European Union and Israel must be suspended immediately,” he continued, days after the European Commission announced its intention to review this agreement. Furthermore, he continued, “we all have to implement an arms embargo because there can be no arms sales to Israel.” “The last thing the Middle East needs right now is weapons,” he declared. Albares also warned that "we are very close to making the two-state solution unviable due to Israel's illegal colonization movements." "What is the alternative to a two-state solution? Kill all the Palestinians? Deport them to who knows where? Someone will soon propose deporting them to the moon," he continued. "Nothing we say here goes against the State of Israel, but the Palestinian people have the same right to peace and security that Israel has. The Palestinian people do not have to be condemned to being a people of refugees," he warned. In this context, Albares urged "a review of the national list of individual sanctions that each of us has, and also the European Union, to ensure that we do not allow those who do not want the two-state solution, which we all know is the definitive solution to achieving peace and stability in the Middle East, to succeed." Regarding who could be sanctioned and whether Netanyahu could be among them, he responded: "We're not ruling out any." In any case, he specified, it should include "all those who do not believe in the two-state solution and furthermore make it impossible with their actions."
