MADRID (Dispatches) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to meet Thursday in Madrid with Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, in his first visit to the country since it formally recognized a Palestinian state in May.
Abbas is stopping in Madrid at Spain’s invitation before heading to New York for the United Nations General Assembly, according to an official in his office.
Sanchez will meet with Abbas on Thursday, the Spanish premier’s office said Wednesday, but the details of the program for the rest of the Palestinian president’s visit is not yet known.
Abbas is also due to be received by Spain’s King Felipe VI according to the official in his office, but the royal palace, contacted by AFP, has not confirmed this meeting.
His visit comes after Spain, along with Ireland and Norway, on May 28 formally recognized a Palestinian state comprising the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
The Zionist regime was angered by their decision.
Spain’s leftist government then announced that a first bilateral summit between Spain and Palestine would be held before the end of the year, and the first Palestinian ambassador to Spain presented his credentials on Monday to Spanish King Felipe VI.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said the recognition of a Palestinian state is “not against anyone, least of all Israel,” but the move led to a further deterioration in ties between the two sides.
He has been one of the most outspoken critics in Europe of the Zionist regime’s Gaza onslaught since the start of the conflict.
The Zionist regime’s aggression has so far killed at least 41,226 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the territory.
Sanchez vowed this month to continue to “pressure” Zionist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the global stage over the war in Gaza, especially at the International Criminal Court, which in May requested an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and his war minister.
Spain, along with other nations, has joined South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice in which Pretoria has accused the Zionist regime of “genocide” in the Gaza Strip.
“We are going to strengthen our ties with the Palestinian state,” Sanchez said, adding that Madrid hoped “to sign several collaboration agreements” with the Palestinian state at the bilateral summit later this year.