Spain coordinates with Ireland and Norway to recognize Palestine state spain

Spain will recognize the Palestinian state at a Council of Ministers meeting next Tuesday, May 28, as President Pedro Sánchez announced before the Congress of Deputies on Wednesday. The government has waited a week longer than expected to be able to find allies in Europe and jointly take this measure. Finally, it has coordinated with Ireland and Norway to announce recognition of all three at the same time, and is confident that the others will do so later. The inclusion of Norway is important for Spain because the last major attempt at a peace process was made there. Sánchez further stated that he was aware that his announcement would have consequences and expected Israel to react harshly and take diplomatic steps against Spain. In fact, this morning Israel called the ambassadors of those three countries, including Madrid, for consultations. However, Sánchez believes that there are many reasons to recognize Palestine and thus place itself, at a decisive moment in the 21st century, “on the right side of history” in the Gaza war that is taking lives every day. The President confirmed that this decision, which does not require a vote in Congress, has been agreed with the Second Vice President and leader of SUMAR, Yolanda Díaz.

According to Sánchez, the political reasons for recognizing Palestine are three: “peace, justice and coherence.” “Only a solution of two states (Israel and Palestine) that co-exist with security guarantees allows peace. To achieve this, both sides have to sit on equal terms,” he stressed. Therefore, Sanchez considers it necessary to officially recognize the country, with the aim of empowering the Palestinian Authority when that moment for negotiations comes.

The socialist leader has long insisted that Hamas is “a terrorist group that has no place in the future of Palestine” and that, in fact, it is in conflict with the national authority. “Hamas wants the disappearance of the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority is our partner for peace,” he stressed.

Although the decision does not require a vote, as recognition of a state is a prerogative of the Council of Ministers that does not require parliamentary support, today’s debate served to establish the groups’ position on a longstanding political issue. History and he arrives in the middle of the European election campaign. Sánchez, who agrees with Díaz on everything, has also received the support of all colleagues in the parliamentary majority, although many, almost all, expect him to be tough with Israel and similar to the diplomatic decisions he has just taken. Have been asked to take the same decision. Take with Argentina, it is the return of the ambassador. Sumner’s spokesman Iñigo Errejón said, “Firmness with the far-right Meili is fine, but coherence with the genocidal Netanyahu requires the same firmness.”

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In contrast, the PP and Vox have flatly rejected the decision. Alberto Núñez Fizeau has gone further than previous debates on this issue and although he has stated that the PP continues to support the two-state solution and therefore the recognition of Palestine – this is what it rejected in a non-approval in Congress in 2014. Was approved. -The legal proposal agreed between the PP and the PSOE – does not believe that it is time to recognize Palestine, and even considers it counterproductive.

“Why does it recognise Palestine without consensus within the EU? Hamas immediately came out to celebrate. This is the second time they have thanked them. It is a terrorist group that mutilates children. I already said that first they have to hand over the hostages, have a ceasefire. If not, you are possibly going to harm the Palestinian people. What will you recognise? Which territory? With what political regime? Who is going to be your interlocutor? Hamas? Obviously for Hamas. Meanwhile, Vox leader Santiago Abascal has also rejected the recognition of Palestine and accused Sánchez of putting “equidistant distance between satanic terrorism and a democratic state”. Despite being asked to do so by several groups and even by Sánchez himself, neither Feijóo nor Abascal at any time made any critical mention of Israel’s bombing of the civilian population in Gaza.

The President of the Government has justified this decision, which he has given great historical relevance, as well as a solution to a debt with the Palestinians, who have seen since the 70s their territory due to Israel’s continuous invasions or colonization. How it is getting smaller. While the world does nothing to stop it. “We have a historic debt to the Palestinian people. UN resolutions have been ignored for more than half a century. That inaction must end. We believe this will bring them hope and dignity,” continued the president, who also noted the need to show consistency: “We defend the same position in Ukraine as in Palestine,” he said.

Sánchez has had very harsh words against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but he has emphasized that the government’s decision is not against Israel, but in favor of peace. That is why he has always insisted on condemning Hamas and keeping it out of any solution. “This recognition is not directed against the people of Israel, a people we respect and admire. Certainly nothing against the Jews, an admirable people closely linked to the history of Spain. Nor on the side of Hamas, as the PP and Vox say, in trying to take political advantage of the issue,” he said.

“It’s possible that our decision will have consequences,” Sanchez acknowledged. “The purpose of diplomacy is not to harass anyone, but to peacefully protect our interests and values ​​and that is what we are doing.” It is very likely that the war in Gaza will ultimately be viewed as one of the darkest episodes of the 21st century. When that moment comes, I want the Spanish to be able to hold their heads high and say they are on the right side of history,” he said.

The government justifies its decision to wage a war it considers intolerable – it has already taken more than 35,000 lives; half, of children – but above all, the Israeli government is trying to make a two-state solution impossible, and precisely for this reason it believes that countries like Spain and all the Europeans it can persuade, Now Palestine should be recognized. “Netanyahu continues to bomb hospitals, schools, homes. The Prosecutor’s Office of the International Criminal Court has requested his arrest for war crimes. “I have been involved in this issue for many weeks, talking to many leaders, and if I have one thing clear, it is that Netanyahu has no peace project for Palestine,” Sanchez explained. “Fighting Hamas is legitimate, but the two-state solution with Netanyahu is in danger. The solution he has promoted only leads to hatred. We cannot allow this.

The president says countries that protect human rights “are obliged to act without double standards in Ukraine and Palestine.” “We must use all political resources. We cannot allow the two-state solution to be destroyed,” he stressed.

The recognition of Palestine by Spain will take place in the middle of the European election campaign on June 9 and will become one of the axes of the PSOE’s discourse in the event of elections in which the opposition wants to give it a definitive blow. Sánchez hopes that after the electoral success in Catalonia, more resistance will be shown than expected.

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