2023-11-24 10:38:52
Pedro Sanchez has traveled to Israel later than his European counterparts, and with a much harsher message for the Government of Benjamin Netanyahu. The Spanish president has shamed the Hebrew prime minister face to face about the “truly unbearable” number of civilians and minors killed in the Israeli offensive against Hamas in Gaza. With a very serious face he told the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, that Israel’s “right to defend itself” from Hamas “atrocities” “cannot involve the death of innocent civilians, including thousands of children in Gaza.”
The language has been the most forceful used to date by any of the Western leaders who have visited Israel since the Islamist militia attacked by surprise and killed more than 1,200 Israelis on October 7. The Hebrew Army has responded with an offensive still underway in which more than 14,500 Palestinians have died.
Sánchez demands in Israel “a viable Palestinian State” and criticizes its response to Hamas
When the president of the European Commission, the German Ursula von der LeyenI travel to Israel On October 18, he gave Netanyahu unequivocal support. The British Rishi Sunak He told him that he wanted “him to win” in his war against Hamas. The American, Joe Biden, compared the group to the Islamic State and limited itself to lamenting the Palestinian casualties. The German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, stressed Israel’s “right and duty” to defend itself, and later rejected that it is violating international legality in its attacks. The French president, Emmanuel MacronDuring his visit, he even suggested forming an international alliance against Hamas, but then he changed his tone as civilian deaths in Gaza increased, and now he openly criticizes the killings.
Sánchez alignment
From Moncloa they justify the tone used by Sánches precisely because of the friendship that unites Spain with Israel. A good friend tells the truth to your facethey argue, and the spiral of violence will not help guarantee the security of either Israel or Palestine.
They remember that the president of the Government condemned the attacks of Hamas as soon as they occurred, and constantly calls for the release of the hostages. The president has paid tribute to the victims of the Islamist group and has visited the Be’eri kibbutz, one of the epicenters of the massacre.
They deny that Sánchez has delayed his visit until now as a political message against Netanyahu. The trip was not opportune because he was on duty, they say. However, the president did attend the peace conference held in Egypt on Gaza By the end of october. Then, he held a meeting precisely with three of the most active politicians when it came to asking for restraint from Israel: the Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres; the representative of European foreign policy, Josep Borrell; and the president of the European Council, Charles Michel.
“Sanchez’s tone has been different from that of other world leaders,” he says for this newspaper. Haizam Amirah Fernández, principal researcher at the Elcano Royal Institute. “It is in line with what Guterres said, that the conflict has not arisen from nowhere. That it is necessary to show solidarity with Israeli society after the attacks that its civilians have suffered and, at the same time, make them see that the excessive response fuels to extremist groups and generates more rejection and more hatred towards Israel.
Sánchez’s position on Palestine
For Sánchez, it is not just an ideological issue (he has always been sensitive to the Palestinian cause) or a political issue (Spain has one of the highest rates of support for Palestine among Western countries). It is also a foreign policy bet that serves to approach the countries of the southern neighborhood (Morocco, Algeria, Libya or Tunisia), diplomatic sources recall. The Israeli occupation of Palestine is one of the most sensitive issues for the Arab street.
After being elected general secretary of the PSOE in 2014, Pedro Sánchez’s first words in his speech were, precisely, a denunciation of the massacre that was taking place in Gaza at the time. He called for the barbarism in Palestine to be stopped “once and for all.” “Enough already! There are innocent children who are dyinginnocent people who are suffering and dying in a territory that is being attacked in an irresponsible way,” he said then, as soon as he took the floor. The prime minister was precisely Benjamin Netanyahu, and he had launched an offensive against Hamas in Gaza in the that ended up dying more than 2,200 Palestinians, in addition to 70 Israelis.
Spanish position, hardened
When Hamas attacked Israel by surprise, A month and a half ago, Spain had to quickly position itself in the face of what was going to become the worst crisis in the area in half a century.
First, both Sánchez and his Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, condemned the “attacks” by the “terrorist group” Hamas. A declaration of principles in which the mental framework of those who consider the attack by the Islamist group to be legitimate defense against the occupation was rejected.
Later, they resisted the attacks of the most openly pro-Israel leaders within the Union. Spain rejected the unilateral initiative of the Neighborhood Commissioner, Olivér Varhely, to suspend economic aid to the Palestinians. “I completely disagree with cutting aid.“We must distinguish Hamas from the Palestinian Authority,” Minister Albares told this newspaper. Later, they sided with Josep Borrell in the political earthquake that Von der Leyen’s unilateral position with Israel caused in Brussels. Sánchez defended António Guterres when Israel declared him persona ‘non grata’ for his comments on the occupation as the source of the problems between Israel and Palestine.
The accumulated tension exploded in the form of a diplomatic crisis following the statements of former minister Ione Belarra, asking to take Netanyahu to the International Criminal Court for genocide. Israel condemned these “immoral statements” and accused the minister, without naming her directly, of aligning herself “with the terrorist group Hamas.” The Foreign Ministry “flatly rejected the falsehoods expressed in the statement from the Israeli Embassy.”
Now, and for several weeks, Sánchez has moved on to a tougher third phase. In his inauguration speech he criticized openly the “indiscriminate killings of civilians” in Gazawhile calling for the immediate release of the hostages held by Hamas.
Peace Conference and recognition of Palestine
Beyond the tone used, in substance the Government of Pedro Sánchez tries to promote holding a peace conference when the conflict cools down. In about six months, Moncloa points out as a time frame. They remember that there are already 88 countries that have accepted this “Spanish idea” of a summit: the 27 from the EU and the 51 from the Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.
Another of the substantial ideas that Sánchez is defending is that the Palestinian National Authority takes charge of the Gaza Strip when the fight ends. The proposal is delicate, because in 2006 a violent confrontation broke out between the parties of Hamas and Al Fatah, which ended with hundreds of deaths and the control of Gaza by the Islamist party. “I can assure you one thing, and that is that the Palestinian National Authority will not return to the Gaza Strip on top of Israeli tanks,” the Palestinian ambassador to Spain, Husni Abdel Wahed, told this newspaper.
Sánchez also suggests but a Palestine recognition as a state, as 136 of the 193 United Nations countries have already done; of them, 10 from the EU. But, after five years in power, he has not done so. The Government says that it wants to coordinate with other European partners so that recognition is more effective.
The rest of the Spanish position is more standard: the call two state solution, a full Palestinian one alongside Israel. An option that for some analysts and politicians is now unviable, because Israel has around 700,000 settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the area on which this Palestinian State should be consummated, along with the Gaza Strip, currently destroyed in part. north and in full conflict.
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