The King advocated yesterday for the recognition of the Palestinian State, together with Israel, as the only way to end the cycle of violence that the area is experiencing and that is now concrete with the tragedy in Gaza. Felipe VI made this call at the closing of the conference of ambassadors that was held in Madrid, where, in addition, he asked the international community to mobilize and help the parties so that the agreements of the conference of peace of Madrid celebrated in 1991.
The King’s words respond to the position that successive governments have maintained for years, given that, since the aforementioned conference, Spain has been directly involved in the search for a political solution in the area.
During his reign, Felipe VI has defended the two-state solution, which is that of the current Government, on several occasions, although since the outbreak of the war in Gaza he had not reaffirmed this position.
In his own words, in front of the Spanish ambassadors, the King reminded them that his diplomatic mission “in the context of any armed conflict is logically essential”. “Your work”, he continued, “is key to reversing the situation in the face of aggressions such as the one suffered by Ukraine, in the face of a crisis such as that in the Middle East, or in the face of conflicts and instability in many places in Africa such as , the Sahel”.
It was at this point that he referred to the current situation in the Middle East, and stated that “the tragedy that Gaza is experiencing is shaking the conscience of humanity, just like the terrorist attack that Israel received on the 7 of October, the worst in its history”.
The King then requested that “in addition to the condemnation and the call for the release of all hostages, and the request to respect international law and international humanitarian law, we must also continue to insist that, without a solution politics, which goes through the establishment of the Palestinian State with Israel, it will not be possible to stop this cycle of violence or prevent it from repeating itself”.
The King already referred to the search for a political solution in October, at the presentation of the Princess of Asturias awards, he glossed over the figures of the Prime Minister of Israel, Yitzhak Rabin, and the President of the Authority National Palestinian, Yasser Arafat, who, like King Hussein of Jordan, were awarded this prize. He recalled that they all worked “with effort” to create the conditions of peace in the region, following what was agreed in 1991 at the conference, where the establishment of the Palestinian State was agreed. “Because it is”, said the King, in Oviedo, “the only way to guarantee a better and secure future for all humanity”.
The ambassadors’ conference, held at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, brought together in Madrid, in the presence of Minister José Manuel Albares, about 130 heads of Spanish diplomatic missions around the world.
