Spain and Israel Indicated semi-officially over the weekend that they intend to set up diplomatic relations shortly Spain is the only Western European country which has never had diplomatic ties with Israel.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Maria de Areilza told a television interviewer in Spain Friday that he envisaged diplomatic ties with Israel “in the not distant future.” His Israeli counterpart, Foreign Minister Yigal Allon responded last night in a statement welcoming the Spanish statement. De Areilza said he would not discuss the reasons why Spain had never had ties with Israel before; but noted that “all Western nations have ties with Israel.”
He said that “Spain remains faithful to the UN recommendations and resolutions on the evacuation of all occupied territories (by Israel), the defense of human rights of the inhabitants of those territories, and the right of the Palestinian people to defend their aspiration to possess their own country.”
Asked to comment on this, Allon said: “All sovereign states are perfectly entitled to their views on any world problem. When full contacts are established it will be possible to have fruitful exchanges and consultations on these problems.” Allon was recently reported to have met in secret with Spanish officials somewhere in Europe to discuss future ties.
The Foreign Ministry here, however, has never confirmed these reports–and still refuses to do so. Meanwhile, in Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ismail Fahmy assured Parliament, on the basis of recent high level contacts, that Spain would not change its present policy towards Israel.
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