‘Only Way to Achieve Peace’ – Spain to Recognize Palestinian State by July
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez made the informal remarks on Monday to the journalists accompanying him on an official trip to the Middle East.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said that his country plans to officially recognize Palestinian statehood by July, according to reports by Spanish media.
Sanchez made the informal remarks on Monday to the journalists accompanying him on an official trip to the Middle East, Spanish news agency EFE and newspapers such as El Pais said.
He is visiting Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to discuss the war in Gaza, as well as business partnerships.
Sanchez believed there would soon be a “critical mass” within the European Union to push several member states to adopt the same position, Reuters reported, citing EFE.
Earlier last month, Sanchez reportedly said he would propose that the Spanish parliament recognize a Palestinian state.
On March 22, the leaders of Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and Malta released a joint statement announcing that they would recognize a Palestinian state.
The statement said the countries’ leaders agreed that “the only way to achieve lasting peace and stability in the region is through the implementation of a two-state solution, with Israeli and Palestinian States living side-by-side, in peace and security.”
The leaders who met on the sidelines of the European Council said “We discussed together our readiness to recognise Palestine and said that we would do so when it can make a positive contribution and the circumstances are right.”
Arms Exports Halted
In an interview with Al Jazeera in February, Al-Jazeera, the Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares declared that, since October 7, Madrid suspended all arms export licenses to Israel, noting that the events of that day “made us realize the importance of a just and permanent solution to the question of the Palestinian people.”
Spain’s delegation at the ongoing trial of Israel at the International Court of Justice (IC) told the Court last month that “it is an indisputable reality that the situation in Palestine has worsened” over the past 20 years.
Close to 33,000 Killed
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 32,916 Palestinians have been killed, and 75,494 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
(The Palestine Chronicle)