“Due to the scandalous remarks of the Spanish Prime Minister, after he repeated his baseless claims again, I have decided to summon the Israeli ambassador to Spain for consultations in Jerusalem,” wrote Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on the X social network.
Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez said earlier Thursday that the European Union should recognize Palestine as a state, which he said would help end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and stabilize the region.
“It is clear that we have to find a political solution to end this crisis, and that solution, in my opinion, requires the recognition of Palestine,” the Socialist prime minister said in an interview with Spanish public television TVE.
“It is in Europe’s interest to deal with this issue from moral convictions, because what we are seeing in the Gaza Strip is unacceptable,” he added, and it is also important for the “geopolitical goal of stabilizing the region.”
Mr Sanchez, who was sworn in for a new term this month, said his foreign policy priority would be to “work in Europe and Spain to recognize a Palestinian state”.
Mr. Sanchez indicated that Madrid does not rule out the possibility of unilaterally recognizing Palestine if the 27 EU member states do not agree.
Several smaller European countries, mainly Eastern European states such as Hungary, Poland and Romania, have taken this step, but they did so before joining the EU.
However, no major member of the bloc has so far taken such a step, making Spain essentially a pioneer.
In 2014, the Spanish Parliament voted in favor of a resolution calling for the recognition of Palestine as a state.
However, the vote was not binding and no further action was taken.
“The situation has changed,” Mr. Sanchez told TVE, adding that Arab countries do not understand the EU’s position.
“All these years we have seen how Israel has systematically occupied Palestinian territories,” he added, referring to Israel’s construction of settlements.
According to Amnesty International, “Israel’s policy of settling civilians and evicting local residents in occupied Palestinian territory is contrary to basic rules of international humanitarian law.”
The Palestinians say the settlements jeopardize their goal of creating a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Last week, Israel summoned the Spanish ambassador over Sanchez’s criticism of Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip, which he made during a visit to the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt on Friday.
Israel has accused Madrid of supporting terrorism.
“Friendly countries must tell the truth,” said the Spanish prime minister, before recalling that he had clearly condemned the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas.
“But we must tell Israel with the same conviction” that it must abide by international law, he added.
The war began when Hamas militants invaded Israel through the border of the Gaza Strip on October 7 and, according to Israeli officials, killed about 1,200 people. people. About 240 more Israelis were taken hostage.
In response, Israel vowed to crush Hamas and launched a massive military operation in the Gaza Strip, which the Palestinian Authority’s ruling Hamas government says has already killed nearly 15,000 people. people.
Under the terms of a ceasefire, now in its seventh day, Hamas released dozens of hostages taken in a bloody attack in Israel in exchange for the release of more than 200 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.
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2024-08-25 11:04:04
