Eduardo González
The acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, warned yesterday before the European Parliament that the EU “cannot allow” the violence between Israel and Hamas to spread “in a region that is the real powder keg of humanity” and, therefore, should “begin to think more urgently than ever” on how to achieve a definitive peace through “the two-state solution”.
“This is a moment when the whole world is looking at Europe and, most especially, our partners and friends in the Middle East,” Albares told the press at the end of his appearance before the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Europeans “must be united in recognizing Israel’s right to defend itself against this brutal terrorist attack by a terrorist organization that is Hamas and that does not represent the Palestinian people”, but “we must also be united in claiming and raising the flag of International Humanitarian Law in this response”, as well as “in differentiating Hamas and terrorist targets from the legitimate Palestinian leadership and the civilian population that, in no case, can be a victim of this conflict”, he continued.
“Hospitals cannot be a target of violence,” the minister warned, referring to Tuesday’s bombing of a hospital in the Gaza Strip, which caused around 500 deaths and whose authorship is unknown (the two sides accuse each other). “The civilian population cannot be displaced,” he continued, referring to the ultimatum issued by Israel to the population of northern Gaza to evacuate the area, and “they have to be guaranteed basic supplies, water, energy, food and medicine.”
“It is absolutely essential that at least some humanitarian corridors are opened and that humanitarian aid can arrive now,” said Albares. “Spanish aid is ready to enter as soon as it can and we are in permanent contact so that this can happen as soon as possible, because Gaza can wait no longer,” he added.
“Nor can we allow this violence to spread in a region that is the real powder keg of humanity, and for that we have to work with all the actors in the region, with Israel, with Palestine, with all our partners and friends in the region and the Middle East,” he said. “We are talking from the Government of Spain, I have been doing so since the first day of the Hamas terrorist attack with all the countries of the region and with all my colleagues, the foreign ministers of the countries of the Middle East and the Arab world,” he assured. “All the work of the Government of Spain and all the work of the EU, as the current Presidency of the EU, must be aimed at de-escalation, at avoiding the spread of violence to Lebanon, to the West Bank, and at definitively resolving this violence, which is reaching unprecedented levels,” he continued.
“Also, starting today, we must begin to think more urgently than ever about how to ensure that when peace returns, this situation will never be repeated, and that means the solution of two States, a State of Israel and a State of Palestine that recognize each other, that live in good neighborliness, in security, in peace,” said Albares. “That is what I have declared in the European Parliament,” he specified.
“That is the solution, there is no other,” he assured. “At this moment, that solution, which has always been on the table and which on occasions we have almost come close to it, is once again gaining strength and validity” and, therefore, “Spain and the EU are not going to spare any effort so that that solution, which we have come close to so many times, this time is the right one”, he said.
In this context, and just as the President of the Government in office, Pedro Sánchez, did the day before during the extraordinary European Council, Albares recalled that “on November 27 there is an important meeting of the Union for the Mediterranean in Barcelona” that “can be a good opportunity to start talking, to start a dialogue”, because “we need spaces, we need people, we need institutions that build bridges, we cannot remain with our arms crossed in the face of a violence that literally begins to get out of hand”.
On the other hand, the minister dedicated exactly the same words to refer, on the one hand, to the criticism of the leader of the European People’s Party (EPP), Manfred Weber, to the EU High Representative, Josep Borrell, for not having accompanied the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, on their trip to Israel and, on the other hand, to the harsh accusations of the Israeli Embassy in Spain against “certain elements of the Government” whom he accused of “aligning themselves with this ISIS-type terrorism.”
“In these moments of gravity for humanity, we are all responsible for what we say, how we say it, when we say it, because we can all contribute to de-escalation or escalation. I choose to contribute to de-escalation and I choose to contribute to the cohesion of our societies also in Europe”, declared Albares.
Debate in the European Parliament
Albares spoke yesterday in a debate in the European Parliament to address the situation in the Middle East. “It is again the innocent who pay the price,” said Roberta Metsola at the start of the plenary session.¡
Following Albares’ appearance on behalf of the Spanish Presidency of the EU (in which he made the same arguments that were later passed on to journalists), Josep Borrell reiterated Israel’s right to defend itself, but warned that “the right to defense, like all rights, has limits.” “We condemn these terrible terrorist attacks, but we also have to condemn the civilian casualties in Gaza because condemning one tragedy should not prevent us from condemning another,” he added.
For her part, Ursula von der Leyen reported that the Commission has decided to immediately triple humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza and has launched a humanitarian air bridge between the EU and Egypt in order to deliver essential supplies to organizations working on the ground in Gaza. She also recalled that the EU “has always been the largest international donor to Palestine and that will not change,” but warned that, “as the situation evolves, it is also essential that we urgently and carefully rethink our financial assistance to Palestine. EU funding has never been directed to Hamas or any terrorist organization.”
Von der Leyen also stated that “these times of war must also be times of diplomatic activity” and called for closer ties with Israel and other countries in the region. She also expressed concern also about the rise of anti-Semitic incidents in Europe and the spread of fake news and hate speech. “This is something we simply cannot accept, it is our shared responsibility to make sure that our dark past does not catch up with us again. We have to protect Jewish life in Europe,” she added.
