CAIRO: The secretary-general of the Arab League and Spain’s foreign minister on Thursday discussed plans for an international peace conference to stop the war in the Gaza Strip.
During a meeting in Cairo, Ahmed Aboul Gheit and Jose Manuel Albares explored the possibility of organizing talks aimed at ending the conflict.
Aboul Gheit’s spokesperson, Jamal Rushdi, said the league’s leader had lauded Spain’s ongoing support for the rights of Palestinians, which he pointed out reflected the country’s commitment to principles, shared human values, and justice.
The rising death toll as a result of Israeli attacks on the Strip were “directly stemming from the tacit approval granted by some Western nations to engage in aggression and violence under the guise of self-defense — an entitlement deemed unacceptable for an occupying force,” Aboul Gheit said.
Albares, visiting Egypt as part of a regional tour, noted the urgent need for an immediate and lasting ceasefire in the Strip, as well as the preservation of unity and geographical connectivity between Gaza and the West Bank under the leadership of the Palestinian Authority.
He said it was imperative that an independent Palestinian state was established as soon as possible, adding that it was his country’s intention to recognize Palestine as a state soon.
Aboul Gheit urged Albares to champion the Palestinian cause in the EU, adding that recognizing Palestine and granting it full membership of the UN would help toward realizing a two-state solution to the crisis.
On the possibility of organizing an international peace conference, he said it was vital that Arab and European officials worked closely with relevant stakeholders to stage such a meeting.
Condemning the continued Israeli onslaught, Albares highlighted the urgent need to get humanitarian aid into Gaza, while he denounced forced displacement, and warned against Israeli operations in Rafah, according to Rushdi.
Speaking to the league’s permanent delegates, the Spanish minister focused on the war in Gaza and the priority of achieving a ceasefire.
In a post on X, Aboul Gheit said: “I value Spain’s positions in support of Palestinian rights, especially since it will recognize the independent state of Palestine very soon.”
Arab League chief, Spanish FM discuss plans for Gaza international peace conference
https://arab.news/zdxan
Arab League chief, Spanish FM discuss plans for Gaza international peace conference
- Officials told Spain set to recognize independent state of Palestine ‘very soon’
- Albares, visiting Egypt as part of a regional tour, noted the urgent need for an immediate and lasting ceasefire in the Strip
Algeria parliament to vote on law declaring French colonization ‘state crime’
- The vote comes as the two countries are embroiled in a major diplomatic crisis
ALGERIA: Algeria’s parliament is set to vote on Wednesday on a law declaring France’s colonization of the country a “state crime,” and demanding an apology and reparations.
The vote comes as the two countries are embroiled in a major diplomatic crisis, and analysts say that while Algeria’s move is largely symbolic, it could still be politically significant.
The bill states that France holds “legal responsibility for its colonial past in Algeria and the tragedies it caused,” according to a draft seen by AFP.
The proposed law “is a sovereign act,” parliament speaker Brahim Boughali was quoted by the APS state news agency as saying.
It represents “a clear message, both internally and externally, that Algeria’s national memory is neither erasable nor negotiable,” he added.
France’s colonization of Algeria from 1830 until 1962 remains a sore spot in relations between the two countries.
French rule over Algeria was marked by mass killings and large-scale deportations, all the way to the bloody war of independence from 1954-1962.
Algeria says the war killed 1.5 million people, while French historians put the death toll lower at 500,000 in total, 400,000 of them Algerian.
French President Emmanuel Macron has previously acknowledged the colonization of Algeria as a “crime against humanity,” but has stopped short of offering an apology.
Asked last week about the vote, French foreign ministry spokesman Pascal Confavreux said he would not comment on “political debates taking place in foreign countries.”
Hosni Kitouni, a researcher in colonial history at the University of Exeter in the UK, said that “legally, this law has no international scope and therefore is not binding for France.”
But “its political and symbolic significance is important: it marks a rupture in the relationship with France in terms of memory,” he said.
