Spain to unilaterally apply sanctions on violent Israeli settlers if EU refuses

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA)- Spain’s foreign minister said on Monday that Spain will unilaterally apply sanctions on violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank if the EU fails to agree on doing so.

“These sanctions have been debated at several previous meetings of EU foreign affairs,” Jose Manuel Albares told the press in Brussels. “I will continue pushing so that they are applied once and for all… but in the case that there is no agreement, Spain will absolutely advance individually in applying these sanctions.”

Albares was speaking ahead of Monday’s Foreign Affairs Council meeting.

Besides sanctions, he promised to push the bloc to reevaluate the EU-Israel Association Agreement and whether Israel is violating international and human rights law in Gaza.

This idea was proposed by the Spanish and Irish prime ministers in a letter sent to the European Commission last week after Israel announced its offensive in Rafah.

“I will concretely ask that this evaluation is ready for the next Foreign Affairs Council, where we will be able to extract conclusions,” he told journalists. “We hope that we’ll be able to resolve this with dialogue but there certainly are series of mechanisms that are available.”

He added that this proposal, as well as Spain’s other ideas on the region, aim to stop the growing Palestinian death toll.

"It would be a total catastrophe if the military operations are enlarged to Rafah,” he added. “The situation is already too bad, catastrophic.”

Albares added that Spain will continue calling for a permanent cease-fire that would allow humanitarian aid to reach Gaza, the release of the hostages and pave the way for a two-state solution.

He explained that Spain is still lobbying the international community on the importance of the recognition of a Palestinian state, and hopes it can be done in negotiations with Israel, Palestine and the international community at a peace forum.

“But if nothing advances, Spain is a sovereign country that can take its own decisions,” he added, referring to the Spanish prime minister’s promise to recognize a Palestinian state this government term.