Resolution calls for end to violence, aid access and Palestinian statehood
Spain on Thursday urged countries worldwide to support a Spain-drafted UN resolution condemning Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip and its violence across the Palestinian territories.
“We want all nations to speak out against the inhumane blockade that Israel is imposing on the Gaza Strip – a blockade on humanitarian aid, on food, on medicine,” Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told broadcaster RTVE ahead of Thursday's General Assembly vote.
“We want us all to unite to denounce a war that has no aim other than causing death and suffering and turning Gaza into a giant cemetery,” he added.
The resolution, to be presented by Spain and Palestine, responds to what diplomats described as the UN Security Council's “inaction” on the situation in Palestine, Spanish daily El Diario reported.
Albares said the text will also call for a “realistic and viable” Palestinian state that includes Gaza as well as condemnation of illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, “where violence is being committed daily.”
Last month, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez invited Arab states to collaborate to ensure the resolution's success.
“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 said in Baghdad at the Summit of the League of Arab States.
Just over a year ago, Spain became one of a handful of European nations to formally recognize Palestine.
Madrid has also called for the upcoming June 16 UN meeting to serve as an opportunity for broader recognition of Palestinian statehood.
“Spain will never stop talking about this – breaking the humanitarian blockade, advancing toward a realistic Palestinian state and denouncing Israel's violence in Gaza and the West Bank,” said Albares.
