“What is happening in Gaza and the West Bank cannot be ignored—not in Europe, nor anywhere else in the world. Redrawing the map of the Middle East by force will awaken the darkest nightmares of our past,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told the 34th Arab League Summit meeting in Baghdad today. “Palestine is bleeding to death before our eyes. In the face of violence and barbarism, only the staunch defense of a world order where justice prevails is possible.”
He proposed to mobilize the United Nations institutions. Sánchez asked the Arab States to support a resolution drafted by Spain and Palestine, which demands that Israel end its humanitarian blockade of Gaza and allow full and unrestricted access to humanitarian assistance. He also announced that Spain will bring a motion before the UN General Assembly, requesting the UN’s International Court of Justice to rule on whether Israel is complying with its obligations under international humanitarian law. Spain recognized Palestine as a state last year, and Sánchez said hopes other nations will do likewise at the June 2-4 UN summit by Saudi Arabia and France.
The day before, Spain, along with six other European nations, had issued a joint statement calling for “immediate action” to stop the mass starvation of Palestinians that is being imposed by Israel. Signed by the government leaders of Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Slovenia and Spain, the statement asserts that their nations “will not be silent before the man-made humanitarian catastrophe that is taking place before our eyes in Gaza. More than 50,000 men, women, and children have lost their lives. Many more could starve to death in the coming days and weeks unless immediate action is taken.… We must assume the responsibility to stop this devastation.”
Specifically they do not spell out what they will do to ensure that their commitment is carried out. They do, however, address the government of Israel directly, calling upon it “to immediately reverse its current policy, refrain from further military operations and fully lift the blockade, ensuring safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian aid to be distributed throughout the Gaza strip by international humanitarian actors and according to humanitarian principles. United Nations and humanitarian organizations, including UNRWA, must be supported and granted safe and unimpeded access. Forced displacement or the expulsion of the Palestinian people, by any means, is unacceptable and would constitute a breach of international law,” it warns. “We reject any such plans or attempts at demographic change.”
The seven nations acknowledge the efforts of the United States, Egypt and Qatar in seeking negotiations on a ceasefire and the release of all hostages, which efforts they urge be accelerated.
