MADRID: Ministers from Arab and European countries along with the European Union's foreign affairs chief gathered on Friday in Madrid to discuss how to advance a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"Together, we want to identify the concrete actions that will enable us to make progress towards this objective," Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wrote on social network X.
"The international community must take a decisive step towards a just and lasting peace in the Middle East," the Socialist premier added. Sanchez welcomed participants at his official residence before the start of the meeting at the foreign ministry in central Madrid, hosted by his top diplomat Jose Manuel Albares.
In attendance were Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa and the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey — all members of the Arab-Islamic Contact Group for Gaza — as well as the heads of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
The European Union was represented by its foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell as well as the foreign ministers of Ireland, Norway and Slovenia in addition to Spain.
"The implementation of the two-state solution is the only way to ensure a just and lasting peace in the region through the peaceful and secure coexistence of the state of Palestine and the state of Israel," Albares told a news conference.
Asked about Israel's absence from the meeting, he said the country had not been invited because it belonged "neither to the group of Europeans nor to the Arab-Islamic contact group" but stressed he would be "delighted" if Israel took part in discussions on the two-state solution.
Sanchez has been one of the staunchest critics in Europe of Israel's Gaza offensive since the start of the conflict. Under his watch, Spain on May 28 along with Ireland and Norway formally recognised a Palestinian state comprising the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Earlier this month he announced that the first "bilateral summit between Spain and Palestine" would be held before the end of the year. He said he expected "several collaboration agreements between the two states" to be signed.
Meanwhile, the first round of the polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip has been successfully completed, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
More than 560,000 children under the age of 10 have received a first dose of the vaccine, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a post on X. "This is a massive success amidst a tragic daily reality of life across the Gaza Strip," he added.
The WHO and partner groups negotiated temporary ceasefires with Israel and Hamas to enable families to bring their children to vaccination centres and mobile vaccination teams to reach families.
There were no major incidents during the campaign, which lasted just under two weeks. The children will need a second dose of the oral vaccine in four weeks to be protected from infection. The campaign comes after three cases of polio were detected in Gaza in July, the first cases recorded in the territory in 25 years. — AFP/dpa
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