MADRID: Spain has said it will press the European Union to adopt policies according to the wishes and aspirations of Palestinian people as Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited Israel, Western media reported.
He told Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu that it is in Israel’s interest to work for peace adding that peace means the establishment of the Palestine state.
Sanchez whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said that he supports Israel’s right to defend itself but the number of Palestinians killed by Israel’s army is truly unbearable.
Spanish premier scheduled to meet Mahmoud Abbas
The Spanish premier is also scheduled to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank, has repeatedly endorsed the two-state solution that means a Palestinian state established in territory that Israel captured in 1967.
Sanchez earlier said his foreign policy priority would be to work in Europe and in Spain to recognize the Palestinian state.
He will arrive in Egypt on Friday. He is accompanied by Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo, whose country will take over the EU presidency on January 1.
Sanchez is hopeful that his stance will have a ripple effect in the rest of Europe.
In 2014 Spain’s parliament voted in favour of a resolution calling for recognition of Palestine as a state. However, the vote was non-binding and there has been no follow up.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry the Palestinian death toll from relentless Israeli bombardment on the Gaza Strip has reached to more than 14,532. The ministry in a statement said the victims include over 6,000 children and 4,000 women.
