A meeting has been held in the European country of Spain with the aim of ending the Gaza war and promoting a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The leaders of the two European countries as well as some Muslim countries attended the meeting in Madrid on Friday (September 13).
Recently Spain recognized Palestine as an independent state along with Norway and Ireland. In continuation of this, the country’s government organized a meeting on Friday with the aim of two-state solution. In addition to the two foreign ministers of Norway and Slovenia, the head of the European Union’s foreign affairs, Joseph Borrell, participated in the meeting.
Members of the Arab-Islamic Contact Group for Gaza comprising Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey participated alongside Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa. However, no representative of Israel was present here.
As the host country of the meeting, Spain emphasized the implementation of a two-state solution to end the bloody Israeli-Palestinian conflict and called on the international community to set a clear timetable to achieve that goal.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albarez told reporters, “We are meeting here to advance the end of the Gaza war.” We are here today to find effective ways to end the violence between Palestinians and Israelis. There is only one way to solve this long-standing problem, and that is the implementation of the two-state solution.
“There was a clear desire among the meeting participants to translate words into action and move towards a clear timetable for the effective implementation of a two-state solution.”
Albares also said Israel was not invited to the meeting. Because they are not part of the Arab-Islamic Contact Group. He expressed optimism that we would be happy to have Israel on the side of any talks where peace and a two-state solution are discussed.
Meanwhile, at least 41,118 civilians have been killed in Israel’s attacks on Gaza so far. Most of them are women and children. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has been vocal against Israel’s attack on Gaza since the start of the war.
On May 28, Spain officially recognized an independent Palestinian state consisting of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, along with Ireland and Norway.
Then at the beginning of this month, he announced that the first bilateral summit between Spain and Palestine will be held at the end of this year. He also expressed hope that several cooperation agreements between Spain and Palestine will be signed at the conference.
Source: Reuters