The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has agreed with his Italian counterpart, Luigi di Maio, to postpone the joint visit to Israel and Palestine that the latter had scheduled with the former minister, Arancha González Laya, according to diplomatic sources, The Diplomat has learned.
The visit had been scheduled by Di Maio and González Laya for the first days of August, with the aim of promoting the joint initiatives of the two countries to dialogue with Israelis and Palestinians and to anchor the ceasefire currently in place.
The changeover at the head of the Spanish Foreign Ministry has made it advisable to postpone the trip, at least until after the summer, and Di Maio and Albares reportedly spoke about this on Wednesday in a telephone conversation, in which, according to the Spanish minister’s Twitter account, they discussed the situation in the Mediterranean, in Libya and in the Sahel.
Yesterday, in addition, Albares had another telephone conversation with Israel’s foreign minister, Yair Lapid, to whom he reportedly communicated the decision to postpone the joint trip with Di Maio. On the same social network, the head of Spanish diplomacy recalled that this year marks the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, and thanked Lapid for his congratulations on his appointment. The Israeli minister also indicated on his Twitter account that he hopes that they will soon have the opportunity to meet and continue the “excellent” dialogue between the two countries.
Sources from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs added that in the conversation with Lapid, Albares inquired about the situation of the Spaniard Juana Ruiz, who has been detained since April, after being accused by the Israeli military justice system of “belonging to an illegal organisation”. Israel accused the organisation where she is employed of diverting funds to the activities of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which it considers terrorist, as do the EU and the United States. The trial against Juan Ruiz was recently postponed until the 27th.
