Sara Bailac conveys Esquerra’s repeated demands that the Spanish Government adopt concrete measures in favour of Palestine, to put an end to the genocide in Gaza and for respect for international law.

On Tuesday, Spanish Senate spokesperson for Esquerra Republicana Sara Bailac met with Palestinian activist and spokesperson Arab Barghouti at Spain’s Congress. At the meeting, the son of historic Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti also spoke with representatives from several parties including EH Bildu, BNG, Comuns, PNB, Podemos, Sumar and PSOE.

The meeting served to obtain first-hand insight to the current situation in Palestine, the reality of Palestinian prisoners—among which, Mr Barghouti’s father, imprisoned by Israel for over twenty years—and the political challenges for the future. Mr Barghouti explained that over 10,000 Palestinian families have relatives imprisoned by Israel, and denounced the deaths of more than a hundred Palestinian prisoners over the past two years.

During the meeting, he called on the parties to continue pressuring the international community to end the genocide against the Palestinian people and to defend their national rights. He also defended the need to go to the polls in Palestine after twenty years without any elections, and for greater presence of women and young people in institutions “to gain credibility and stand up to oppression by Israel.”

For her part, Ms Bailac conveyed to Mr Barghouti Esquerra’s unbroken commitment to the rights of the Palestinian people. “My party has stood by the Palestinian people on numerous occasions, defending the ceasefire, the suspension of the Association Agreement between the European Union and Israel, the end of the genocide, respect for international law, and for the right of the Palestinian people to freely decide their future,” she said.

Ms Bailac also shared Mr Barghouti's reflection on the importance of international recognition of Palestine, insisting that “recognition of the Palestinian State is an important symbolic step, but the Spanish Government must go beyond gestures and adopt concrete measures to make Palestinian national recognition effective, to end the occupation and to contribute to ending violence and violations of international law.”

Esquerra’s spokesperson also highlighted the party’s commitment to international solidarity initiatives and recalled that Barcelona councillor Jordi Coronas recently denounced the Government of Israel for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity after participating in the Humanitarian Flotilla to Gaza.

Mr Barghouti finally expressed his wish to continue strengthening alliances with European political parties committed to human rights. He expressed his willingness to collaborate with Esquerra Republicana in Catalonia and to continue working together in defence of the rights of the Palestinian people and for an end to the genocide in Gaza.