Spain’s leftist government recognized the Palestinian Authority on Tuesday following the decision, as did Norway and Ireland last week.
“This is a popular decision with only one goal – to help Israel and Palestine achieve peace,” Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in a statement outside the palace of Moncloa, his home authority in Madrid.
Sánchez spoke before the formal approval of the meeting of government ministers.
Responding to the dispute over the borders of the Palestinian state, the Prime Minister said that Spain should not “impersonate the borders of other countries”.
The community leader said that a Palestinian state “is the first to survive”. He added, “The West Bank and Gaza Strip should be connected in a road, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and unified under the direct authority of the Palestinian Authority.”
Sanchez also said that his government’s decision did not target Israel, which he called “a friendly country that we respect, that we respect, and that we want to have good relations with.”
He said his government opposed the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and strongly condemned the army’s attack on Israel on October 7.
However, awareness is “the only way to achieve a two-way solution”.
