Source: Daily Sabah

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced that Madrid would unilaterally recognize an independent Palestinian state, even if such a decision contradicts the opinion of the European Union, as he said the recent hostage deal was not enough and a permanent cease-fire was necessary.

“I think that the moment has come for the international community, especially for the European Union and its member states, to recognize the state of Palestine,” Sanchez told media during a news conference on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing on Friday.

Sanchez said that ideally, the recognition would come all at once with at least several member states participating.

“But if this is not the case, of course, Spain will take its own decisions,” said the newly re-elected Spanish premier, who previously vowed that recognizing the state of Palestine was a priority for his upcoming term.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo joined Sanchez on his tour of Israel, Palestine and Egypt.

He said the first priority was freeing the hostages held by Hamas and helping alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

“Then we will need to sit around the table and discuss the subject,” said De Croo.

Sanchez also said that the current pause in Gaza was not enough and that a permanent cease-fire was needed.

Barcelona suspends relations with Israel

Meanwhile, the Barcelona city council on Friday approved a declaration suspending relations with Israel until there is a permanent cease-fire in Gaza and the country “respects the basic rights of the Palestinian people.”

This is not the first time Barcelona has cut ties with Israel.

In February 2023, then-Mayor Ada Colau suspended the city’s relationship with Israel and the twin city agreement with Tel Aviv.

However, during elections this summer, Colau lost her position to the socialist candidate Jaume Collboni. In September, he restored diplomatic ties with Israel and the twin city agreement with Tel Aviv.

Friday’s declaration was put forward by Colau’s far-left Barcelona en Comun party and backed by Collboni’s Socialist Party and the left-wing separatist party ERC.

The declaration condemns all attacks on the civilian population, both by Hamas and Israel, as well as “any collective punishment, forced displacement, systematic destruction of homes and civil infrastructure as well as the blockade of energy, water, food and medical supplies to the population of the Gaza Strip.”

According to Barcelona’s approved statement, the main obstacles to long-lasting peace are “the occupation and colonization of Palestinian territories” and the “denial of rights” to the people.

Other high-profile members of Spain’s national government, including former minister and current MP Ione Belarra, have called for the country to cut ties with Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

That is not the position of the government. On the contrary, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez traveled to Israel and Palestine to meet with his local counterparts on Thursday.

There, he was critical of the Israeli response to the Oct. 7 attacks, calling the situation in Gaza a “humanitarian catastrophe,” urging Israel to “respect civilian lives at all costs,” and saying the number of civilian deaths was unacceptable. Over 14,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, were killed in incessant Israeli attacks, which also destroyed civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, refugee camps and homes, in grave violation of international law.

Belarra said Sanchez’s trip was “whitewashing” Netanyahu and said he should instead be in Brussels lobbying for the EU to apply sanctions against Israel in the same way the bloc did to Russia after it attacked Ukraine.

Sanchez said his mission was to lay the groundwork for peace talks.

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Egypt’s el-Sisi says future Palestinian state could be ‘demilitarised’

El-Sisi spoke after a meeting with the Spanish and Belgian PMs as they try to shore up support for a peace conference.

A future Palestinian state could be demilitarised and have a temporary international security presence, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has said.

“We said that we are ready for this state to be demilitarised, and there can also be guarantees of forces, whether NATO forces, United Nations forces, or Arab or American forces, until we achieve security for both states, the nascent Palestinian state and the Israeli state,” el-Sisi said on Friday during a joint news conference in Cairo with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.

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A political resolution which calls for a Palestinian state based on the June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, has remained out of reach, el-Sisi added.

Arab nations have rejected suggestions that an Arab force could provide security in the Gaza Strip after the end of Israel’s current military operation there against the Palestinian group Hamas, which has governed Gaza since 2007.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told reporters in London this week that Arab states would not want to go into a Gaza Strip that could be turned into a “wasteland” by Israel’s military offensive.

“What are the circumstances under which any of us would want to go and be seen as the enemy and be seen as having come to clean up Israel’s mess?” he said.

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