MADRID – US President Donald Trump’s recent proposal to expel Palestinians from Gaza is “immoral”, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Wednesday after meeting Egypt’s President, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, in Madrid.

Sánchez (PSOE/S&D) received the Egyptian president on Wednesday at the executive headquarters in Madrid, followed by a press conference where they both sharply attacked Trump’s recent proposal to expel the nearly 2 million Palestinians from Gaza to neighbouring countries, including Egypt or Jordan.

“Gaza belongs to the Palestinians and is part of the future Palestinian state”, the Spanish PM and PSOE leader said, without directly naming Trump.

The expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza would be “immoral and contrary to international law and United Nations resolutions,” added the head of the Spanish executive coalition between the PSOE and the left-wing platform Sumar.

According to Sánchez, a displacement of the Gaza population would also have a destabilising effect on the Middle East and the world.

In this regard, the head of the Spanish government recalled that Madrid supports a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that includes the peaceful coexistence of the two states, Israel and Palestine.

The head of the Spanish progressive executive recalled that Madrid supports the proposal of the Arab League summit to be held in Cairo on 4 March on the reconstruction of Gaza.

Spain is the largest contributor to the EU mission at the Rafah border crossing in support of the Palestinian Authority, which is due to resume functions in Gaza.

During Sánchez’s visit to Egypt in November 2023, he pledged that Madrid would recognize Palestinian statehood if the EU did not agree to do so jointly.

The Spanish PM fulfilled that promise and in May last year the Iberian country recognized the Palestinian state alongside Ireland and Norway, in a decision widely applauded by Arab countries, including Egypt.

Madrid’s decision provoked a harsh reaction from Israel, as did the criticism of several Sumar –and its former ally the far-left Podemos- members against Tel Aviv for the Hebrew state’s military operation in the aftermath of the Hamas terrorist attacks of October 2023.

(Fernando Heller | Euractiv.es)