By EFE
May 28, 2024, 01:26 AM EDT
The Spanish Council of Ministers will approve this Tuesday the recognition of Palestine as a State, a decision that Spain adopts together with Ireland and Norway, which has provoked the wrath of Israel, and which the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has stated that it is done for three reasons: “for peace, for justice and for coherence.”
Pedro Sánchez wanted to give special relevance to this decision and will make an institutional statement at the Moncloa Palace before the start of the Council meeting about the step that Spain is taking.
After in his investiture debate, the head of the Executive advanced last November that this recognition was an issue that he intended to promote both in Spain and abroad, he specified that the Executive would approve it in the current semester.
Last week was when he announced before the plenary session of Congress the specific date of this approval, this May 28, after coordinating with Ireland and Norway in order to make the decision in unison.
Coexistence of two States
In his appearance that day in the Lower House he said that the Government adopted the decision echoing the majority sentiment of the Spanish people and convinced that the only possible solution to the conflict in the Middle East is the coexistence of two States.
In addition, he explained that he had promoted the decision for three reasons, for peace, for justice and for coherence, and to fulfill the mandate of Parliament, which in 2014 approved a non-law proposal that urged this recognition.
“The decision is not against Israel or the Jewish people.”
“Recognition is not the end. It is just the beginning, and we are going to continue putting pressure on the international community,” he stated before Congress, while assuming the consequences that it could have on the part of some Israeli leaders and ensuring that the decision is not against Israel or against the Jewish people. .
These consequences were immediate after the announcement, and the Government of Benjamin Netanyahu called its ambassador in Spain for consultations, as it also did with those in charge of its diplomatic legations in Ireland and Norway.
In addition, Foreign Minister Israel Katz announced that he had given instructions to cut the connection between the Spanish embassy in Tel Aviv and the Palestinians, as well as prohibit the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem from providing services to Palestinians in the West Bank.
“Whoever harms us, we will harm”
A decision for the recognition of Palestine but also, as Katz explained, for the “anti-Semitic call” of the Vice President of the Government, Yolanda Díaz, who closed an intervention last week with the pro-Palestinian slogan “from the river to the sea.”
The ban on providing services to Palestinians by the consulate was formalized this Monday when Katz sent a diplomatic note to the Spanish embassy and, in a statement, in which he warned: “Whoever harms us, we will harm.”
The note is added to the video that the minister uploaded to his social network account the message, mentioning Sánchez: “Hamas appreciates your services.”
“It is adding fuel to the war”
The approval of the recognition of Palestine also has the rejection of the PP, whose leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, believes that Sánchez is carrying it out now to cover up his personal problems.
There is no outright rejection by Feijóo of this recognition, but he does reject it at this time, since he believes it is provoking Israel, adding “more fuel to the war,” implicitly recognizing Hamas as an interlocutor and “empowering” this terrorist organization.
In his opinion, doing so now will cause more harm than good to the Palestinian people, and they should wait until there is a ceasefire.
For Hamas to release all Israeli hostages, and for humanitarian aid to Gaza to be unblocked. In addition to making this recognition with the majority of countries in the European Union.
Keep reading:
- The US rejects the decision of Spain, Norway and Ireland to recognize Palestine as a State
- Israel rebukes countries that will recognize Palestine as a state
- Netanyahu reaffirmed to Joe Biden his rejection of a Palestinian state: “Israel must maintain security”