Spain’s constant censure of Israel has irritated Israel, as it has historically supported Palestine in the ongoing conflict.
To honor the victims of Israel’s brutal campaign in Gaza, a Palestinian demonstrator and a survivor of the 1937 Guernica tragedy will raise an alarm on Friday in the Spanish marketplace that was blasted by a Nazi legion.
Hundreds of individuals will create a human mosaic in the Spanish town that has become a global emblem of the miseries of war because of Pablo Picasso’s masterwork. These people will be dressed in the Palestinian flag’s red, black, white, and green colors.
Thousands of defenseless civilians were killed when the Nazi Condor Legion bombarded Guernica during the Spanish Civil War, as Germany backed General Francisco Franco’s Nationalist forces.
The town’s name is derived from Piccasso’s enormous oil painting, which depicts severe anguish, including a sobbing woman clutching her dead child.
The painting’s scene will be depicted at the demonstration on Friday, according to Igor Otxoa, a Guernica Palestine organization spokesman.
According to Otxoa, “We have always felt sympathy for the Palestinians because we have endured a long conflict with the Spanish state and independence groups here, as well as suffering under the dictatorship.”
This symbolic act is consistent with Spain’s longstanding support for Palestinian rights, but it comes at a sensitive moment, since Madrid is leading the growing group of Western nations criticizing Israel.
The Israel-Palestine conflict erupted on October 7 when Hamas, the party in charge of Gaza, assaulted southern Israel, killing over 1,200 people and seizing over 200 prisoners. Since then, at least 15,900 Palestinians have died in less than two months.
Israel claims that the goal of its military operation in the heavily populated area is to destroy Hamas, an organization that the US, UK, and EU all view as “terrorist.”
According to Palestinian health officials on Monday, women and children made up almost 70% of the victims.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez expressed his reservations that Israel was abiding by international humanitarian law last week, citing the “the footage we are seeing and the growing numbers of children dying.” The remarks came as pictures of injured children and destroyed buildings inundated social media.
Israel swiftly responded to Sanchez’s remarks by scolding the Spanish ambassador in Jerusalem and removing its own envoy from Madrid.
Other than lawmakers in Ireland and Belgium, the leader of Spain is the most prominent and senior European figure to denounce Israel, having also denounced Hamas for its attack.
In the meantime, protests in support of the Palestinian people have taken place in several Spanish cities.
According to Cantabria University constitutional law expert Josu de Miguel, Spain is “sociologically a pro-Palestinian country.”
Spain would be willing to acknowledge an independent state for the Palestinians, according to Sanchez. De Miguel told Al Jazeera that since this is not the attitude of the European Union, it adopted a unilateral approach.
The fact that the left in Spain exhibits greater activity than the right is another aspect.
