Alex Trelinski
PRIME Minister Pedro Sanchez announced on Wednesday that Spain will recognise the state of Palestine with borders prior to the 1967 Six-Day War- i.e. including land seized by Israel following that conflict.
The news came after a warning from Israel’s foreign minister, of ‘grave consequences’ if such a decision was made.
Speaking in Congress, Sanchez said the recognition would be formally approved by the Council of Ministers next Tuesday.
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Sanchez made his declaration to coincide with similar moves by Ireland and Norway.
Israel has already recalled its ambassadors to Ireland and Norway after they said they would recognise Palestine as a state from Tuesday(May 28).
Israeli Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, speaking before Spain’s decision, said: “Ireland and Norway intend to send a message to the Palestinians and to the whole world today that terrorism is worth it.”
He also warned of ‘serious consequences’ if Spain joined Ireland and Norway’s declarations.
“The Irish-Norwegian parade of stupidity does not deter us, we are determined to achieve our goals: to restore the security of our citizens with the elimination of Hamas and the return of the hostages. There are no fairer goals than these,” Katz concluded.
Pedro Sanchez accused the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu of ‘continuing with his destruction of Gaza’ and criticised France and the US or reducing their presence in the Sahel region of central Africa, thus allowing Russia and China to exert more influence.
He said that Spain is a ‘pacifist nation’ as demonstrated by the young university students who show their revulsion at the situation that the Palestinian people are experiencing and as demonstrated by the citizens who rejected the Iraq War over two decades ago.
Sanchez acknowledged that recognition is not enough because Netanyahu continues to punish Palestinians ‘with hunger and terror’.
He stated that the Israeli leader does not have a plan for Palestine and will only succeed in perpetuating hatred.
“We cannot allow this and that is why we are obliged to act in both Ukraine and Palestine and without double standards,” he added.
“We will not allow the possibility of two states to be destroyed.”
