Jordan takes another step in its diplomatic contacts to advance peace in the Middle East. King Abdullah is in Madrid this Tuesday, where he traveled accompanied by his Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Ayman Safadi. Here, both have had an intense agenda to “mobilize intentional support for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the sending of humanitarian aid to the strip,” according to the official website of the Hashemite monarchy.
With the aim of fulfilling this mission, Abdalá held a working lunch this afternoon at the Zarzuela Palace with Felipe VI. Both kings are united by a friendship inherited from their parents, which they have reported on numerous occasions. In fact, last June Abdullah and his wife, Queen Rania, visited Felipe VI and Doña Letizia in Madrid. Then the war between Israel and Palestine had not broken out and everything was smiles.
Now, both the Jordanian monarch and his consort – of Palestinian origin – are dedicated to achieving a ceasefire. The queen offered a harsh interview to the BBC a month ago where she criticized the “double standard” of measuring attacks if they come from Israel or Palestine. And she again called for a ceasefire.
While Abdalá had lunch in Zarzuela, Ayman Safadi did the same at the Viana Palace, official residence of the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares. It was a private meeting in which they once again exchanged their positions on what to do to resolve the conflict, as Albares himself tweeted.
In the afternoon, King Abdullah met with Pedro Sánchez at the Moncloa Palace. As reported by the Government in a statement, the Spanish leader thanked him for “the efforts that Jordan is carrying out to move towards a peaceful and lasting solution in Gaza.”
During the meeting they discussed the situation in the Middle East and agreed on the “importance”, according to the statement, that humanitarian aid reaches the Gaza Strip “constantly and in sufficient quantity to alleviate the suffering of the civilian population.” . In this sense, Sánchez conveyed that the Government of Spain rejects the forced displacement of the Palestinian population.
Both leaders delved into the “need” to adopt a “humanitarian ceasefire” that would lead to the cessation of hostilities, reiterating the importance of “working together to provide a horizon of stability, based on the two-state solution, Israel and Palestine, may they coexist in peace and security.
Pedro Sánchez’s Executive was the first to put on the table the need to hold an international peace conference, an idea that both the European Union and the Arab League have already adopted. These two organizations disagree, however, on Hamas’s role in that conference. Because Europe believes that it should abandon the strip and let the Palestinian National Authority take power again, while the Arab countries avoid commenting on the terrorist organization.
The Jordanian king will travel this evening with Minister Safadi to Geneva. There, tomorrow he will give a speech at the Global Refugee Forum.