If Pedro Sánchez were to actually deliver on his word (which is a pretty big “IF”), Spain would become only the second country to recognise Palestinian statehood while being an EU Member State.
During a tour of Israel and Palestine last week, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez did something that most EU leaders dare not: he criticised Israel for its indiscriminate bombing of Gaza. At a press conference on Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt, Sánchez described the mass killing of civilians, “including women and children,” as “unacceptable.” He also raised the possibility of Spain unilaterally recognising Palestine as a state if Spain’s EU partners do not commit to collective recognition.
“The time has come for the international community and especially the EU to make a decision on the recognition of the Palestinian State. It would be worth it and it would be important for us to do it together,” Sánchez said, adding that if that does not happen, Spain will make its own decision on the matter. As Euro News notes, while a number of EU Members do recognise Palestinean statehood, they do not include any of the larger states or economies, meaning that Spain could become a pioneer if Sánchez were to deliver on his word.
Of course, Sánchez’s talk of the need for the “international community” to recognise Palestine as a state is absurd given that 138 of the world’s 193 countries — representing over three-quarters of the global population — had already done so as of December 31, 2019. The map below illustrates just how out of sync the international community of which Sánchez speaks — i.e. NATO & friends — is with the rest of the world on this issue.
By the end of 2019, nine G20 countries had recognised Palestine : Brazil, China, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Argentina (all current or prospective BRICS members, though Argentina may leave before it joins), Turkey and Indonesia. Ten G20 countries hadn’t, six of them NATO members (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and three, major non-NATO allies (Australia, South Korea and Japan). The other, Mexico, this year reclassified the Palestinian Authority’s diplomatic mission in Mexico City from special delegation to embassy, despite huge pressure from the US State Department.
One more big caveat before we continue: a two-state solution may well be unworkable by this point anyway, as Yves argued in her preamble to yesterday’s cross-post, A Ceasefire Is Far from Lasting Peace – A National Security Expert on the Israel-Hamas Deal:
John Mearsheimer has stated a two-state solution is impossible and everyone advocating it ought to know that….which would seem to suggest their motives for touting it are cynical. One insurmountable obstacle is that a Palestinian state would have its own military, something Israel would never tolerate. A second issue is the way Israel has balkanize the area between Gaza and the West Bank, making any integration or even, say, land bridge very hard to implement. Third is what to do with the settlers They ought to be expelled, again something Israel would never accept.
Yet More “Terrorism Supporters”
Sánchez said in his speech that while the temporary ceasefire declared last Friday may be a step in the right direction, something more permanent is needed. He also called on Israel to comply with its obligations under international law.
These comments may seem like weak tea given the scale of destruction and death visited upon Gaza over the past seven weeks, but they still represent one of the strongest critiques of Israel’s actions by an EU leader to date.
What’s more, Sánchez currently holds the rotating six-month presidency of the European Council, which he will soon be handing over to Belgian Premier (and, incidentally, alum of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders program) Alexander De Croo.
De Croo accompanied Sánchez on his tour of Israel, Palestine and Egypt. During his address at Rafah, De Croo called for an immediate end to civilian casualties in Gaza and described the ongoing destruction of the enclave as “unacceptable.”
The Israeli government responded in time-honoured fashion by accusing the two prime ministers of supporting terrorism. Tel Aviv’s rapidly growing list of “terrorist” national leaders includes the presidents of Colombia, Chile, Honduras, Bolivia, Turkey, Ireland and now Spain and Belgium…
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Nick Corbishley 