Pedro Sánchez has assured that the two-state solution, Palestine and Israel, is “the only viable solution to achieve a just peace in the region” of the Middle East, now even more threatened by an escalation of war after Iran’s attack on Israel. from last weekend. This was reiterated by the President of the Government this Tuesday from Ljubljana, together with the Prime Minister of Slovenia, Robert Golob, in a new stop on his tour of European capitals to promote the recognition of Palestine as a State.
The two-state solution, the Spanish president has insisted, aims to “provide a political horizon perspective that definitively resolves this conflict” between Israel and Palestine. “And to facilitate the implementation of this solution, this week we will support Palestine’s accession as a full member state in the United Nations, and we will recognize the Palestinian State when circumstances have a positive impact on a process that must bring us to a halt. the fire and a diplomatic and political solution to this crisis,” Sánchez reaffirmed.
“We trust that doing so will serve to send a message of hope to millions of Gazans who today are suffering the consequences of the war, and so that other Western countries will also do so. And to launch a political process between equals that will lead to a just and lasting peace for peoples, the Palestinians and the Israelis, with whom we have ties of friendship and brotherhood,” Sánchez highlighted along with Golob.
Sánchez thanked, in this sense, “the commitment, courage and coherence” shown by the Slovenian government of Golob, “to find a peaceful solution to a conflict that stirs our consciences, such as the situation of humanitarian catastrophe that is taking place. living in the Gaza Strip.” The Spanish president has highlighted that, already on March 22, Golob was one of the signatories of the joint declaration that he promoted, together with the prime ministers of Ireland and Malta, to seal his commitment to the recognition of Palestine as a State. “in the right circumstances.” And, for this reason, he wanted to value and recognize “the courage” of Golob.
“There have been more than six months of attacks and bombings, there are more than 33,000 fatalities, two million people who are hungry, cold, afraid and thirsty, mainly boys and girls,” Sánchez stressed about the distressing situation that the Palestinians are experiencing in Gaza, but also in the West Bank.
The President of the Government has warned that “an entire region is looking into the abyss, due to the wrong decisions of a few”, in the face of an attack by Iran on Israel which, he stressed, “must be condemned with total resoundingness and clarity”. And so, he has assured, he has done it himself. “It is one more example of the risk we are facing,” Sánchez warned, given the threat of an escalation of war in the Middle East.
As he did the day before, during his appearance at the Moncloa with the new Prime Minister of Portugal, Luís Montenegro, Sánchez highlighted that “there are two paths, that of escalation that leads us to nothing, except a horizon of misery, pain and resentment, as we are unfortunately seeing, or that of a commitment to international legality and diplomacy, the only path that can lead us to peace and sustainable security in a region so important for the stability of international politics as It is the Middle East.”
Sánchez has assured that Spain is committed to the second of these paths, “out of humanity, out of respect for the multilateral system and because we remember the horrors of war.” “Because our main mission is to ensure the well-being of our fellow citizens and our neighbors,” he added.
Golob, for his part, agreed that “we cannot watch with our arms crossed, we have to act and take the next steps forward.” “The recognition of the Palestinian State is only one of the steps we have to follow. Perhaps it is the first step, but it is not the only one and there will surely be others necessary,” the Slovenian president has warned. He remains to clear up the question of “when is the most appropriate time to recognize the Palestinian State.” “In an appropriate time we will make decisions,” he promised. But he has trusted that, “in a prudent time and when there is greater consensus, we can take the appropriate steps.”
After the tour of Poland, Norway and Ireland last week, Sánchez thus completed his visit to Slovenia this Tuesday. Already in Brussels, the Spanish president plans to hold bilateral meetings on the matter this Wednesday with the prime ministers of Luxembourg and Malta, Luc Frieden and Robert Abela, respectively, and on Thursday he will conclude his round of contacts with the prime minister of Belgium, Alexander de Croo, with whom he already shared a tour of the Middle East last November that took them to Israel, Palestine and Egypt.
Before leaving for Slovenia, the Chief Executive also held a telephone conversation this Tuesday with the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, with whom he also agreed on the need to recognize the Palestinian State. “It is time to move from words to action,” Sánchez urged.
