The Government of Mariano Rajoy threatened Israel with recognizing Palestine as a State in order to stop the sympathies shown towards the independence process and, ultimately, cut off the feared option of an important State promising the recognition of an independent Catalonia. unilateral. The episode was treated discreetly by both parties and is part of the disagreements between Madrid and Tel Aviv, cyclical since the late establishment of diplomatic relations in 1986 (Spain was the only member of the EU that did not recognize the State of Israel).
The threat of recognizing Palestine was conveyed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the time, José Manuel García-Margallo, on a visit to Israel, as recalled in his book “Heterodox Memories.” Spanish diplomatic sources have confirmed to La Vanguardia such management, which is part of a period of unease in the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs due to the complacency and gestures that Israel showed towards the independence process.
Minister García-Margallo remembers that he made numerous arrangements and trips throughout the world those months but highlights three for their "dangerousness" to the interests of Spain: the Baltic countries, Scotland and Israel. In each place, the argument was different but the objective was the same: to prevent any country from encouraging, with the promise of recognition, the independence process.
In the Baltic countries the message was that if they were “understanding” with the unilateral approach, Spain would ask for the lifting of sanctions against Russia (“and that they – the Baltics – were so interested”). It was conveyed to Scottish Prime Minister Alex Salmond in the course of “a long interview” that if they continued showing support for the independence movement, “I was going to start saying that Spain would veto the hypothetical access of an independent Scotland to the EU.” ”. Finally, the third target was Israel. “The third important visit I made was to Israel, where I explained with absolute clarity that, if they bothered us about this, we would recognize Palestine.” A clear phrase that appears on page 414 of those “Heterodox Memoirs.”
Even today, the last government that has received a president of the Generalitat is that of Israel. It happened in 2013, when Artur Mas was president, the year in which the pro-independence bias closed the doors to visits that had acquired substance in the time of Jordi Pujol. No state has received a Catalan leader in the high ranks of prime ministers or presidents since 2013.
It was precisely Jordi Pujol who promoted special relations with Israel since the 1980s, a role model for sectors of CiU dazzled by the economic and political success of the Jews who founded the State of Israel in a very hostile environment. The parallels were tantalizing…
Spanish diplomatic sources indicate that García-Margallo's warning had an effect as far as appearances are concerned. However, Israel retained a deliberate desire to make Spain uncomfortable with this matter, as demonstrated by the fact - and the facts count - that it was one of the democratic states that took the longest to express its public support for the territorial integrity of Spain after the unilateral declaration of independence in 2017. “It took weeks, weeks,” says a Spanish diplomatic source.
