Painted in red and green – the colors of the Palestinian flag – a reproduction of Picasso's Guernica, a symbol of the horrors of war, occupied the wall of a room, which was crowded with dozens of journalists on Tuesday, May 28, in what was until then Palestine's general delegation to Spain. Husni Abdel Wahed, the Palestinian Authority's representative in Spain since 2022, had decided to hold his first press conference as ambassador just hours after Spain's Council of Ministers had officially recognized the State of Palestine, based on its 1967 borders. "The recognition of the state of Palestine is not only a matter of historical justice," said the president of the Spanish government, the socialist Pedro Sanchez, in a solemn address that morning, concluding that "it is also an imperative needs to achieve real peace."

In this palace in the north of Madrid, which has now become an embassy, the first words spoken by Abdel Wahed, the 64-year-old former Palestinian ambassador to Argentina, honored the Palestinian victims of the "genocide" which, according to him, Israel is committing in Gaza. However, he was keen to "celebrate" the "very important step" taken by Spain, as well as Norway and Ireland, which serves to "reaffirm their commitment to the future, peace and freedom" of the Palestinian people, he explained. "Recognition in itself is not an objective, but a necessary step towards other steps that must be materialized in the two-state solution," he adds. As to the concrete scope of this recognition, he expressed that "if it were only symbolic, Israel would not have reacted so vehemently."

Bilateral relations between Israel and Spain, already strained by Madrid's strong criticism of Israel since the start of the offensive it launched on Gaza following the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, have deteriorated further in recent days. Israel has recalled its ambassador to Spain and, more importantly, banned the Spanish consulate in East Jerusalem from providing services to the Palestinians.

Not only did Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz see the recognition of the State of Palestine as a "reward" for Hamas, but he was also outraged by allegedly "anti-Semitic" remarks made by Spain's labor minister, Yolanda Diaz, the government's third-ranking minister and the leader of the radical left-wing movement Sumar. On May 24, she broadcast a video welcoming the recognition of the State of Palestine and concluding: "We cannot stop here. Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea." On the social media network X, Katz, went so far as to publish a photo of Diaz on Tuesday, flanked by photos of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as one of those who are "calling for the disappearance of the State of Israel and the establishment of a Palestinian Islamic terrorist state."

You have 31.79% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.