MADRID, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- King Felipe VI of Spain has pledged support for a political settlement of the Palestinian issue on the basis of the two-state solution during a meeting with visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, according to a press release.
There is "no alternative" to a two-state solution if a "sustainable and durable peace" is to be reached in the Middle East, which will attend "equally" to the "legitimate aspirations of both parties: Palestinian sovereignty and Israeli security," King Felipe told Abbas on Monday night at a dinner held in the royal palace in Madrid.
"The Spanish society has a deep sense of justice which has led it to show special sensibility to the legitimate hopes of the Palestinian people," he said, adding that this feeling in turn had "motivated a firm and constant position from Spain in favor of the solution of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living next to each other in peace and within secure and recognized borders."
For his part, Abbas, who arrived in Madrid on Monday, expressed his support for the unity of Spain.
He said he would continue to work for the "reconciliation" of all the groups currently in Palestine, according to the press release.
In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 181, which recognized the need to establish a Jewish state and an Arab state in the former British Mandate territory of Palestine.
The 1967 Middle East war resulted in Israel's occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. The last round of peace talks between Israel and Palestine halted in 2014, mainly due to the continuing expansion of Jewish settlements on the occupied territories of Palestine.
