Borrell hopes that Spain will host the peace conference on the Middle East proposed by Sánchez

Albares and Borrell demand that Israel respect International Law and not cut off basic supplies to the civilian population

MADRID, 30 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The High Representative for Foreign Policy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, raised this Monday the possibility of Spain hosting the peace conference on the Middle East proposed last week by the acting president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, as well that Madrid hosted more than three decades ago the summit that theoretically laid the foundations for the definitive rapprochement between Israelis and Palestinians.

In relation to this hypothetical forum, for which neither date nor venue has been proposed, Borrell said during a conference at the Diplomatic School "to hope" that Spain "can host it, as it hosted the one in Madrid" in 1991, and that the summit takes place "as soon as possible". The European heads of State and Government assumed this thesis last week at the Council meeting, advocating in the conclusions for the holding of the aforementioned summit "soon", which Sánchez introduced for the first time at the October 21 meeting in El Cairo.

The acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, EU and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, has stressed that Spain responds in both Ukraine and Gaza "in the same way", with slogans aimed at safeguarding the United Nations Charter and the Union treaties. European and with "values ​​that reject war as a way to resolve conflicts." The proposal launched by President Sánchez to hold a peace conference on the Middle East also falls under this umbrella.

Thus, although he has admitted that now is the time to focus on "what is urgent" and prevent, among other things, the current crisis from acquiring "a disproportionate dimension", he has warned that there will only be peace with a "two-state solution." "It will be the best guarantee of security for Israel and of stability, security and peace in the Middle East," she said.

Borrell has agreed that the current conflict "forces" the international community to "commit politically" to make this two-state solution "real", since 30 years after the Oslo Accords "very little or nothing has been done" to obtain it.

In the short term, the head of Spanish diplomacy has established that Israel "suffered a terrorist attack" and "has the right to defend itself," but regardless of the context or circumstance, "the United Nations Charter does not change." Albares has stressed that also in Gaza a distinction must be made "between terrorist and civilian objectives" and the population must be able to access "basic supplies."

"That is why Spain raised its voice first to say that aid to Palestine has to continue, that we have to differentiate Hamas from the Palestinian people," added the minister, recalling at the same time that the Government is already working on a plan to redouble the helps, as he himself announced last week.

For his part, Borrell has warned of the risk of applying "double standards" taking into account that what was once repudiated in the Russian aggression against Ukraine must now be condemned in the conflict in the Gaza Strip. In this sense, he has pointed out that cutting basic supplies to the civilian population is as objectionable in Gaza, where the situation is already "dramatic", as it was in Ukraine, while he has declared that in the West Bank there are territories "as occupied as They are the occupied territories invaded by Russia."

Israel "has the right to defend itself," in the opinion of Borrell, who then clarified that "all rights have a limit." This red line passes through International Humanitarian Law: "We ask Israel to respect it." SUPPORT FOR GUTERRES

Borrell has taken the opportunity to reiterate his support for the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, in the face of the "strong reaction" generated in Israel by the speech in which the former Portuguese prime minister suggested that the Hamas attacks did not "arise from nothing", but were the result of decades of "suffocating occupation".

"I think he is right," said the High Representative, who agrees with the head of the United Nations that the attacks of October 7 did not occur "by magic" nor were they determined by "chromosomes."

They are, he added, "a response to a situation", without according to Borrell this implying "justifying terrorism." "Explaining is not justifying," he added, recalling that the condemnation of Hamas's actions has been "clear and forceful."