PA prime minister calls on Spain to recognize ‘State of Palestine’

Recognition of a Palestinian state will “preserve and protect the two-state solution from being eroded,” said PA Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh .

By Aaron Sull, World Israel News

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayye called on Spain to recognize the “State of Palestine” during a Saturday meeting with Spain’s Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya at the 56th Munich Security Conference, reported Palestinian news agency Wafa.

According to the report, Shtayyeh told Laya that doing so will “preserve and protect the two-state solution from being eroded.”

In 2014, Spain along with the UK and Sweden adopted a non-binding motion calling on their respective governments to recognize a Palestinian state in coordination with the European Union.

Shtayyeh suggested that the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference, a forum that encouraged direct Israeli-Palestinian talks, was the best model to help solve the decades-long conflict.

“We want an international conference similar to the Madrid Peace Conference led by the International Quartet and other countries, based on international law and international legitimacy,” said Shtayyeh.

The Palestinian news agency also reported that Shtayyeh met with the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda to swiftly begin investigating Israeli “war crimes.”

Bensouda is poised to launch a probe into whether Israeli settlements constitute a war crime.

Israel is not a signatory to the Rome Statute that lends the ICC its power, therefore Israel claims Bensouda has no jurisdiction over the matter.

However. as many countries are signatories to the Rome Statute, such Israel fears that an ICC investigation could lead to arrest warrants being issued against high-ranking Israeli officials and military officers who travel abroad.