Ministers from European, Muslim countries meet in Madrid to talk Palestinian statehood
Spanish FM Albares says two-state solution ‘only way’ to ensure peace in region; claims he’d be ‘delighted’ if Israel took part in such discussions, despite it not being invited
MADRID, Spain — Ministers from Muslim and European countries, along with the European Union’s foreign affairs chief, gathered Friday in Madrid to discuss advancing a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“Together, we want to identify the concrete actions that will enable us to make progress toward this objective,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on X.
“The international community must take a decisive step toward a just and lasting peace in the Middle East,” he added.
Sanchez welcomed participants at his official residence before the start of the meeting at the foreign ministry in central Madrid, hosted by his top diplomat Jose Manuel Albares.
In attendance were Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa and the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey — all members of the Arab-Islamic Contact Group for Gaza — as well as the heads of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
In addition to Spain, the European Union was represented by its foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell and the foreign ministers of Ireland, Norway and Slovenia.
Hoy celebramos en Madrid una reunión de países europeos con el Grupo de Contacto árabe-islámico para abordar conjuntamente la solución de los dos Estados.
Juntos queremos identificar acciones concretas que nos permitan avanzar en ese objetivo.
La comunidad internacional debe… pic.twitter.com/pJI4dcms46
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) September 13, 2024
“The implementation of the two-state solution is the only way to ensure a just and lasting peace in the region through the peaceful and secure coexistence of the state of Palestine and the state of Israel,” Albares told a news conference.
Asked about Israel’s absence from the meeting, he said the country had not been invited because it belonged “neither to the group of Europeans nor to the Arab-Islamic contact group” but stressed he would be “delighted” if Israel took part in discussions on the two-state solution.
Calls for a solution have grown since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, which began with Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, which saw terrorists kill some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnap 251. It is believed that 97 hostages remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 33 confirmed dead by the Israel Defense Forces.
In Israel, however, the appetite for peace talks has markedly decreased, with leaders in Jerusalem seeing intensified efforts to see the formation of a Palestinian state in the wake of the Hamas atrocities as a prize for terror.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 40,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 17,000 combatants in battle and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.
Sanchez has been one of the staunchest critics in Europe of Israel’s Gaza offensive since the start of the conflict.
Under his watch, Spain on May 28 along with Ireland and Norway formally recognized a Palestinian state comprising the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Earlier this month he announced that the first “bilateral summit between Spain and Palestine” would be held before the end of the year. He said he expected “several collaboration agreements between the two states” to be signed.
Israel criticized the move to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state, saying it served as a reward for the October 7 massacre.
