Margallo urged Israel and Palestine to "sit to negotiate"
During the ‘Safety in the Mediterranean after the Chicago Summit. A new NATO organization’, the minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation considered Israel committed a ‘major blunder’ freezing the Palestinian funds and promoting settlements. The event was organized in Valencia by Casa Mediterráneo, the NATO Rapid Deployable Corps Headquarters in Betera and the Spanish Institute for International Strategic Studies (IEEE) at the Catholic University of Valencia.
December 04, 2012
For this reason, Mr. García-Margallo urged both parties to ‘sit to negotiate.’ And added that the Israeli government gave the step ‘in the opposite direction to the one it should be headed to.’
Otherwise, he claimed that Spain voted for Palestine in the UN because that is the way to ‘bet on the solution of the two States and it would open the chance to Israel and Palestine to sit anew at the negotiation table.’
During his allocution, the Minister commented that ‘it is more than likely and in not so many years, the United States will reach energy self-sufficiency and it would redesign its positions in the world,’ and highlighted that it can not be discarded that the USA ‘loose their interest’ in the Middle East region, so it would ‘be the European duty’ to face ‘threats’ which reach that area.
Likewise, he assured that Spanish foreign policy ‘is back in the international sphere, and is back to stay’ and that ‘Spain is absolutely ready, without any complex, to fulfil the security missions which correspond to the medium size power it is.’ And he mentioned as an example Iran ‘where we have followed our allies.’
Mr. García-Margallo assured that Spain ‘is a serious country, responsible, which fulfils its obligations. For sure, based on mature relations. Some days ago, when we have had to distance from the United States stance regarding the Palestinian issue, we talked to them and explained why we acted that way.’ The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation concluded his allocution emphasizing that ‘we want to be relevant characters as suits our weight in the European Union and the international community’ and that ‘the Mediterranean is today more important than ever, although it is true that the political and economical power centre is moving towards the Pacific, but precisely due to all that, communications through the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean, on energetic needs supply above all, it is more important than ever.’
During the day, among the participants there were the director general of the Police, Ignacio Cosidó, who analyzed the security risks on in the countries of the South of Europe and in the North of Africa, and the Spanish Ambassador on Special Mission for Mediterranean Affairs, Juan José Escobar, who explained the diplomatic guidelines of the Spanish government.
Lieutenant General Rafael Comas, chief of the Headquarters in Betera (Valencia), detailed a new safety strategic concept ‘it is wider than the militar side’ and urged the official and non governmental organizations to collaborate ‘to solve conflicts, conflicts which nowadays are not solved exclusively by military methods. It is an important step in the process to put into practice the comprehensive approach to conflicts.’ Furthermore, he insisted on the need to put into value the relevance which the Mediterranean as a cradle of civilization.
The director general of Casa Mediterráneo, Almudena Muñoz, the technical director of the IEEI, Jesús de Salvador, and the Lieutenant General Rafael Comas closed the event. Almudena Muñoz recalled the task Casa Mediterráneo is developing in coastal countries and showed interest in continuing carrying out activities such as that event.