Sánchez travels to Israel and Palestine in the midst of a truce to try to provide ideas and solutions

The president will be accompanied by the Belgian prime minister to show a united European front

MADRID, 22 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, will carry out a mini tour of Israel, Palestine and Egypt this Thursday and Friday accompanied by the Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander de Croo, with which both aspire to show a united European front and try to contribute ideas and solutions in the face of peace in the Middle East.

The trip comes after Israel and Hamas agreed to a four-day "humanitarian pause" during which the Islamic Resistance Movement will release 50 of the hostages it is holding -- women and children -- and Israel will proceed to the release of 150 Palestinian prisoners, also women and minors. The agreement, which has been possible thanks to the mediation of Qatar, Egypt and the United States, will enter into force this Thursday.

From Moncloa, they highlight the importance that the president gives to the resolution of the conflict between Israel and Hamas and that has led him to choose the region as his first destination outside of Spain after his re-election. As for the fact that he does so accompanied by De Croo, it is explained because Spain holds the rotating presidency of the EU at the moment and it will be Belgium that will succeed him on January 1.

Both want to contribute ideas and solutions to a conflict that the President of the Government understands has not been receiving the attention it deserved from the international community and in whose resolution he considers that Europe has to play an essential role since it cannot afford a new war at its doors, in addition to that of Ukraine, explain government sources.

The will is to raise the political profile of the EU both in the search for immediate solutions to the dramatic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, and more in the long term in order to resolve a conflict that has lasted for more than seven decades.

The trip will start in Jerusalem, where Sánchez and De Croo are scheduled to meet with the country's president, Isaac Herzog, and with the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. To both of them, the president will reiterate his unmitigated condemnation of the terrorist attack perpetrated by Hamas on October 7, which left more than 1,200 dead, including the Spaniards Iván Illarramendi and Maya Villalobo.

Likewise, Sánchez will recognize Israel's right to defend itself, insisting once again, as he has been doing in recent weeks, that the military response that is being carried out in the Gaza Strip has to be within the limits that marks International Humanitarian Law and International Law.

Limits that the president already said last week that he considers Israel is not respecting, calling its response "disproportionate." Likewise, during the investiture debate, he expressed his rejection of the "indiscriminate killing of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank."

In Moncloa they admit that the numbers of civilian deaths - more than 14,000, including more than 5,800 minors - are difficult to assimilate and that is why they will not stop condemning it, insisting that we must distinguish between Hamas, which is a terrorist organization , and the Palestinian population.

Likewise, they also consider that it is not wise to approach the fight against terrorism only from a military approach, given that Hamas is much more than a terrorist organization, and they believe that it is even counterproductive to the ultimate objective declared by Netanyahu of guaranteeing the security of Israel. as Sánchez has also publicly stated.

The two heads of government will then travel to Ramallah, where they are scheduled to meet with the Palestinian president, whom Sánchez already saw on October 22 in Cairo. For Moncloa, it is essential that the idea that the interlocutor for peace is the Palestinian Authority with its president at the helm is getting through.

In this sense, they also highlight that it seems that the approach is opening up that the Palestinian Authority could be the one to take the reins of the Gaza Strip once hostilities cease, although it is an issue that is still in a very embryonic phase and that It would surely require some intermediate phase with an international or Arab presence on the ground.

Since the new crisis broke out in Gaza, Sánchez has claimed the need to advance the two-state solution and the recognition of the Palestinian State as the best way to guarantee peace as well as the security of Israel.

The president already said in the investiture debate that it will be one of his priorities this term. Their desire is to work with other European partners so that there is consensual recognition instead of opting for the unilateral route and that when it occurs it is not a mere declarative gesture but rather has a political meaning and can contribute to peace, they explain from Moncloa.

This is also part of his proposal for an international peace conference once hostilities cease to give a concrete political horizon to the Palestinians, which more than 80 countries already support, including those of the EU and the Arab League, according to government sources.

Already on Friday, the two leaders have scheduled meetings in Cairo with the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattá al Sisi, and with the secretary general of the Arab League, Ahmed Abul Gheit.

Egypt is a key country in the region and has been the main architect, together with Qatar, of the humanitarian pause agreement reached in the last few hours thanks to the fact that it maintains dialogue with both Hamas and Israel, with which it has had a peace agreement since 1979.

Likewise, it is essential for the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, since the only open border crossing is Rafá, through which foreign citizens trapped in the coastal enclave have also been leaving. To date, more than 170 Hispano-Palestinians and their families have managed to leave the Strip in this way.

Precisely, Sánchez and De Croo will travel here to finish their tour. With this, they want to focus on the importance of the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and maintaining international assistance, given the dramatic situation in this territory, where there are already more than 1.7 million internally displaced people out of around 2 .3 million inhabitants.

The Government has firmly defended the need not only to maintain development aid and humanitarian aid but to increase it in the current context. In this sense, it has decided to practically triple it compared to 2022, going from 18 million to 48.5 million this year.