Brussels, June 23 (EFE).- Spain will ask the European Union on Monday for the “immediate” suspension of the association agreement with Israel, an embargo on arms sales by the EU, and individual sanctions against all those who want to thwart the two-state solution, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares announced.
“It is not the denunciations that are going to stop this inhumane war in Gaza, it is the actions. And I, clearly, am going to put three on the table: the immediate suspension of the association agreement, an embargo on arms sales by the European Union to Israel, and individual sanctions on all those who want to definitively derail the two-state solution,” Albares told reporters on his arrival at the bloc’s Foreign Affairs Council.
“The time for words, for statements, is behind us,” he added, urging the EU to have “courage” to take action after the review report presented on Friday by the European External Action Service (EEAS) that found “indications” that the Israelis would be in breach of their obligations in the association agreement with the EU in terms of human rights with their actions in Gaza.
This document is expected to be discussed on Monday at the EU Foreign Affairs Council, and on Thursday, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, will personally brief the bloc’s leaders during the June summit, also to be held in the Belgian capital.
The report, based on verified facts and assessments by independent international institutions, focuses on the most recent developments in Gaza and the West Bank, and offers a brief summary of allegations of serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law.
For the purposes of the review of Article 2 of the association agreement between the EU and Israel, the analysis focuses on the alleged violations committed by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and not on those perpetrated by Hamas terrorists and other Palestinian armed groups, according to the document obtained by EFE.
“We have on the table a report by the High Representative, requested for many months by Spain, which clearly indicates what Spain already knew, that there is a flagrant violation of human rights at this time in Gaza by Israel and that, therefore, that association council between the European Union and Israel, which is precisely based on human rights, is being violated,” Albares said.
“The Palestinian Gazans need action and, therefore, the important thing today is not to denounce…we have done it for months. It is not the denunciations that are going to stop this inhumane war in Gaza, it is the actions,” he added.
As many as 17 of the 27 member states supported launching a review of the agreement in May, a demand that Spain had been pushing for since a joint letter with Ireland in February 2024 and that it had recently called for again, along with Slovenia and Luxembourg.
Beyond the agreement, both the head of EU diplomacy and several member states will continue to insist on Monday on moving forward with sanctions against violent Israeli settlers, which Hungary vetoes.
Albares also pointed out that the situation in the Middle East affected the European Union “very directly” for two reasons: “because it destabilizes the Mediterranean region of which Spain is a part” and “also because the values that are being trampled on, international law, the abolition of war as a way of resolving conflicts between States, human rights, those concepts were born in Europe.”
The geopolitical instability affecting the Middle East and the entire Mediterranean basin was discussed on Sunday night at a working dinner in Brussels for the MED-9, all the Mediterranean countries of the European Union. EFE
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