Sanchez gained international prominence with his defense of Palestine in the middle of the election cycle. spain

About twenty people with Spanish and Palestinian flags cheered Pedro Sanchez upon his arrival at the government headquarters in Oslo on Friday. This was a unique event, but unusual on Spanish soil, where the president does not typically face demonstrations of support, but rather the opposite. The Norwegian Prime Minister, Jonas Gahr Storey, thanked him for expressing a clear commitment to the recognition of Palestinian statehood and for dedicating himself to traveling across Europe in search of admission. Last November, the Norwegian Parliament urged Storey to recognize Palestine as a state and on Friday he declared himself “ready” to do so. He did not commit to taking this step with Spain, but he did not rule it out either.

A senior official at La Moncloa believes, “When it’s all behind us, history will judge harshly those who did not do what was in their power to stop it.” One expert agrees, “The tragedy unfolding before our eyes in Gaza is causing deep unrest and a sense of helplessness in European society.” Recognition of Palestinian statehood, beyond its practical effectiveness, is the valve that many governments, especially of medium and small countries, have found to satisfy their public opinion. “Many people want to do something, but they don’t want to do it alone so as not to make themselves famous,” he says in La Moncloa. Sanchez sees his opportunity and decides to take the lead. Currently, he has become the coordinator of countries interested in recognizing Palestine as a state who are evaluating when and how to take this step.

After a stop in Oslo, the Spanish President arrived in Dublin (Ireland), where the new taoiseach (Prime Minister), Simon Harris, confirmed that he upholds the commitment of his predecessor, who on 22 March signed a joint declaration with Spain, Slovenia and Malta in which they expressed their willingness to recognize the State of Palestine at the appropriate time. Had expressed. “It feels like we are getting closer (to that moment) and we want to move forward hand in hand with Spain, the more partners we have the better,” he said.

In the middle of the campaign for the Basque regional elections and with less than a month left for the Catalan elections and less than two months left for the European elections, Sánchez is putting a large part of his efforts into bringing together a critical group of countries. Is dedicated to bring so that recognition can be achieved. Palestine is a relevant fact and not an isolated gesture, as was the case with Sweden in 2014. On Monday he will welcome in La Moncloa the new Portuguese Prime Minister, Luis Montenegro, who has already announced that he “welcomes” Palestine’s admission to the United Nations; He will travel to Slovenia on Tuesday to fulfill his commitment on March 22; And on Wednesday, on the outskirts of the European Council, he will meet his counterparts from Luxembourg and Belgium, which hold the rotating presidency of the EU. According to La Moncloa, he has “perfect rapport” with the Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, with whom he traveled to the Middle East in November, but who has not yet joined the initiative due to the diversity of his government. And because there are general elections in June.

After summoning its ambassador to Madrid for consultations last November, Israel is now silent in the face of Sánchez’s activism. In the United States, the State Department has emphasized that recognition of a Palestinian state must be the result of an agreement with Israel, but also believes that it is the sovereign responsibility of states to decide when and how to recognize another. Give recognition. Diplomatic sources assured that Washington has told Madrid that it will not boycott its initiative; That means it will not put pressure on the participating countries not to do so.

The fact that Sánchez has dedicated himself to international politics in the middle of the electoral cycle does not mean that he is not attentive to the polls. opposite of this. In La Moncloa they highlight that, although the Spanish President presides over the Socialist International, the governments supporting the recognition of Palestinian statehood belong to different political families: Christian Democrats (Ireland), Social Democrats (Norway ) or Liberal (Slovenia). “This is a transversal issue, which has the majority support of voters in Spain, including the PP,” he insists. According to government sources, this is what is troubling the PP: Sanchez is leading an initiative that European conservatives and his own voters support. Alberto Núñez Feijú has criticized it with a small mouth, demanding that Spain wait for “weighty” countries to support it; While former President José María Aznar has called it “absurd” to recognize a Palestinian state “that does not exist” and Díaz Ayuso has accused the president of “rewarding” Hamas. Sanchez concluded, “Let them explain themselves.”

The diplomatic conflict is being fought in multiple scenarios. On the 18th, the Security Council will debate Palestine’s entry as a full member of the United Nations and, although the request is still pending before the Accession Committee, Algeria has already announced that it will put its proposal up for a vote. If the United States, as expected, vetoes it, Arab countries will take the matter to the General Assembly, experts warn, and to all European countries at that forum, joined by Spain and Those who are not, will have to join. Portray yourself in public. Unless a retaliatory attack by Iran against Israel destroys everything and the war enters a new phase.

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