International

Pedro Sánchez will visit a Palestinian refugee camp on his tour of the Middle East

The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, will visit a Palestinian refugee camp on his tour of the Middle East to learn first-hand about their situation and symbolize Spain’s full support for the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).

Sánchez begins this Tuesday a trip that will take him to Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar to address with the leaders of those countries the conflict between Israel and Hamas and the need for a ceasefire to alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe that Gaza is experiencing.

The objective of the trip, according to the Government, is to transfer Spain’s willingness to serve as a bridge between the EU and the Arab countries to advance in the search for definitive solutions that Sánchez considers can only go through the coexistence of two states, Israel and Palestine.

The tour will also have an economic component, especially in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to probe new investments from those countries in Spain and the opportunities they offer to Spanish companies.

In that economic context, the announcement of the Saudi company STC to take over 9.9% of Telefónica is framed, an issue that, according to government sources, Sánchez does not plan to raise in Saudi Arabia on his own initiative but could be addressed if the Saudi side does.

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Nor is it planned to discuss with the Saudi authorities on this trip respect for human rights, which the cited sources emphasize is constantly done by Spain in the appropriate forums.

Sánchez will arrive in Amman on Monday night, but his agenda in Jordan will not begin until Tuesday and he will do so with that visit to the Palestinian refugee camp of Jabal el Hussein.

It is one of the four camps established after 1948 to accommodate refugees from Palestine who left as a result of the war between Arabs and Israelis.

The camp was established in 1952 for 8,000 refugees in an area of 421,000 square meters northwest of Amman, but currently, according to official figures from the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), the population is almost 30,000 people.

In that camp, Sánchez plans to have a chat with a group of Palestinian children and then meet with refugees living in this camp.

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The visit, emphasizes the Executive, aims to give visibility to the work carried out by UNRWA, which it considers irreplaceable in the region in support of Palestinian refugees, as well as Spain’s support for this UN body.

The president of the Government will then visit the Citadel of Amman, rebuilt with funds from Spanish cooperation, and will then meet with the king of Jordan, Abdalah II.

Sánchez will move on Tuesday to Yeddah, the city of Saudi Arabia where he will develop his agenda in this country, where he will first see a group of Spanish businessmen and then he will be received by the crown prince and strong man of the country, Mohamed bin Salman.

The trip will conclude in Doha on Wednesday with a meeting with the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who will invite Sánchez to the ‘iftar’ of that day, the moment when the fast is broken in the period of Ramadan.

The Government emphasizes precisely the fact that the three countries have shown their willingness to visit Sánchez in the middle of Ramadan.

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In Doha there will also be a meeting of Sánchez with Spanish businessmen, a meeting with women from Qatar who stand out in various areas of society and an interview with the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani.

Related Topics:Palestinian Pedro Sánchez

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Football Fan Killed in Clashes After Colombian League Match

Fans of Cúcuta Deportivo and their traditional rivals Atlético Bucaramanga clashed outside the stadium following their local league match on Tuesday, leaving one supporter dead and several others injured.

The deceased fan was stabbed, according to a senior police official in Cúcuta who confirmed the cause of death in a video statement. Local media reported that the victim was a supporter of the visiting team, Atlético Bucaramanga.

The match ended in a 2-2 draw. Authorities had banned the entry of Atlético Bucaramanga’s organized supporters into the stadium in an effort to prevent disturbances.

Despite the restrictions, violence broke out in the surrounding areas after the game. Among the injured were three police officers, an institutional source told AFP.

The incident adds to a series of recent violent episodes linked to Colombian football. The most recent occurred in December, when supporters of Atlético Nacional and Independiente Medellín clashed in the stands and on the pitch, leaving 59 people injured.

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Missing Spanish Sailor Rescued After 11 Days Adrift in Mediterranean

The man had departed from the port of Gandía, on Spain’s eastern coast, with the intention of reaching the southern Spanish town of Guardamar del Segura, a journey of about 150 kilometers, a spokesperson for Spain’s maritime rescue service told AFP.

Search boats and aircraft were deployed on January 17, but the operation was called off on January 22 after efforts proved unsuccessful. Alerts were then issued to vessels navigating the area in case they spotted any signs of the missing sailor.

As hopes were fading, a surveillance aircraft from the European Union’s border agency Frontex spotted the sailboat on Tuesday, along with a person signaling for help, approximately 53 nautical miles northeast of Bejaia, Algeria.

A nearby vessel, the Singapore-flagged bulk carrier Thor Confidence, carried out the rescue and is expected to bring the man to an end to his ordeal when it arrives on Thursday in the southern Spanish port city of Algeciras.

Maritime rescue services shared images on social media showing a small white sailboat drifting at sea and secured alongside the much larger ship.

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It remains unclear how the sailboat ended up hundreds of kilometers off its intended route or how the man managed to survive for so long alone in open waters.

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Rubio Says U.S. Could Participate in Follow-Up Russia-Ukraine Talks

The United States could join a new round of talks this week aimed at ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday.

Teams from Kyiv and Moscow met last Friday and Saturday in Abu Dhabi in their first publicly acknowledged direct negotiations to discuss the peace initiative promoted by former U.S. President Donald Trump.

“They are going to hold follow-up talks again this week,” Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “There could be U.S. participation.”

However, Rubio suggested that Washington’s role may be more limited than during last week’s discussions, which included Steve Witkoff, the president’s special envoy, and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.

The secretary of state indicated that progress may have already been made on security guarantees for Ukraine, one of Kyiv’s key demands in any agreement with Moscow after nearly four years of Russian invasion.

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“There is one remaining issue that everyone is familiar with, and that is the territorial claim over Donetsk,” Rubio said, referring to the eastern Ukrainian region that Russia wants Ukraine to cede.

“I know that active efforts are underway to see whether the positions of both sides on this issue can be reconciled. It remains a bridge we have not yet crossed,” he added during the hearing.

Rubio acknowledged that the territorial question would be particularly difficult for Ukraine to resolve.