Beyza Binnur Donmez
28 July 2025•Update: 28 July 2025
- 'It is time to heal the wound of Palestine and bring justice and peace to the region,' says Albares
GENEVA
Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares on Monday urged the international community to take "concrete steps" toward ending the decades-long conflict in Palestine, calling for a definitive timeline for Palestinian UN membership and stronger protection of the two-state solution.
In an op-ed published in El Pais, Albares described Palestine as "a painful open wound for humanity," citing over 58,000 Palestinian deaths, massive displacement in Gaza, and continued Israeli losses and hostage-taking by Hamas.
"It is impossible to look the other way; it is impossible to hide behind a silence that always harms the victims," he wrote, ahead of the High-Level International Conference for the Peaceful Resolution of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution in New York.
Albares said Spain would propose a one-year deadline for Palestine to become a full UN member, with the conference remaining in permanent session in the meantime. He insisted the negotiations must have a clear objective, which he explained as "the establishment of the State of Palestine with the parameters of UN resolutions and negotiations between the parties."
Spain recognized the Palestinian state in May 2024, a move the foreign minister said was "not against anyone, but in favor of justice and law." He called on other countries to follow suit and link recognition to the framework of the international conference.
Madrid has taken several steps, including tripling humanitarian aid to Gaza, supporting the Palestinian authority, sanctioning violent settlers, and suspending arms sales to Israel.
"Above all, we demand every day an immediate ceasefire, massive humanitarian aid, the release of hostages, and Gaza’s reconstruction," he said.
"It is time to fulfill the promise that gave meaning to the United Nations… It is time to heal the wound of Palestine and bring justice and peace to the region," Albares concluded.
