<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Spanish government has "welcomed the US-promoted peace proposal for Gaza," hours after US President Donald Trump announced a plan to end the conflict in the Gaza Strip at a joint press conference at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.</strong></h4> "Spain welcomes the US-promoted peace proposal for Gaza," wrote Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on social media. "We must put an end to so much suffering," he continued. "It is time for the violence to cease, for the immediate release of all hostages, and for humanitarian aid to be granted to the civilian population. "The two-state solution, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security, is the only possible one," he concluded. For its part, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed "the proposed US peace plan to end the war in Gaza" and called on "the parties to commit to ending the violence." "Spain calls for every negotiating effort to end the war and reiterates its demand for a permanent ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and the massive entry of humanitarian aid to halt the suffering that has already lasted too long," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. "The government reiterates its support for efforts to achieve lasting peace in the Middle East, based on the implementation of the two-state solution," it added. Trump’s proposed 21-point plan, released Monday by the White House, includes the formation of a transitional body of Palestinian and foreign technocrats and apolitical figures to manage the Gaza administration, without the presence of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and “under the supervision of a new international transitional body, the Peace Board.” This board will be chaired by Trump himself and will include other heads of state and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. “The leaders of the Arab world and Israel and everyone have asked me to do this, so it will be chaired by a gentleman known as President Donald Trump of the United States. That’s what I want.” "Some more extra work," the US president declared. "This agency will create the framework and manage financing for the development of Gaza until the Palestinian Authority has completed its reform program (...) and can regain control of Gaza," he added. "When the conditions are met," there will be "a credible path to Palestinian self-determination" so that Palestine "has its own state, which we recognize as the aspiration of the Palestinian people," he continued. "Israel will not occupy or annex Gaza," he asserted. <h5><strong>Sumar rejects, Feijóo supports</strong></h5> In a very different vein, the ministers of Sumar (the minority party in Pedro Sánchez's coalition government) have expressed their rejection of Trump's plan. “We must clearly reject any plan that does not guarantee the immediate cessation of violence, the lifting of the blockade, the reconstruction of the Palestinian territory, and a clear timeline for the full recognition of Palestine as a sovereign state, allowing its own population to decide the future of their country,” Second Vice President Yolanda Díaz and Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun declared in a statement. “This is not a peace proposal, but an imposition,” they assert. “It is deeply troubling that attempts are being made to resolve the conflict by ignoring the Palestinian population, the role of its legitimate institutions, and the United Nations framework,” the statement continues. A “transition” under “US control and without political guarantees” is merely “an attempt to consolidate the status quo of occupation and violence that denies fundamental rights,” Díaz and Urtasun denounce. “Turning Palestine into a protectorate run by Washington, outside of international law, cannot be considered a solution but rather a new chapter in the systematic denial of its sovereignty” and, therefore, “far from opening a horizon of coexistence,” the Trump and Netanyahu plan “perpetuates the imbalance, legitimizes Israel's impunity after a genocide that has already lasted two years, and intends to do so precisely when the global clamor for a just peace has intensified,” the statement concludes. For his part, the president of the People's Party (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has expressed his support for the “realistic” peace plan for Gaza announced by Donald Trump. “A Hamas, without annexations, with the support of the Arab countries and a Palestinian technocratic government. A future of peace is possible,” he wrote on the social network X.
