MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Three more Latam countries ‘are ready to recognize’ a Palestine state

PNA Foreign Affairs minister Riad al Malki made the announcement on the “Voice of Palestine”.

Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru are expected to recognize the state of Palestine with its borders prior to 1967, following the recent announcements from Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and last week Bolivia, according to Palestine sources.

The three Latinamerican countries “are in the final phase of drafting a declaration recognizing a Palestine state in coordination with the Palestinian National Authority (PNA)”, said Foreign Affairs minister Riad al Malki, speaking Sunday on the “Voice of Palestine”.

Al Maki pointed out that the PNA was involved in intense efforts to ensure more endorsements from countries in Africa and Asia, ahead of an official claim presentation before the United Nations Security Council for the recognition of an independent state of Palestine, which will be forwarded by Palestinian leadership “when the right moment comes”.

The PNA is looking for alternatives to the current peace process launched last September with Israel with the mediation of the United States, but which has been stalled for three months because of the resumption of the construction of Jewish colonies on Palestinian territory.

In the last few weeks Brazil and Argentina formally recognized the state of Palestine while Montevideo said it would do so in 2011. Bolivian president Evo Morales said last week he would be sending a letter to the PNA officially expressing recognition, and to the United Nations stating its position.

Morales made the announcement over the weekend in the framework of the Mercosur summit sitting next to Uruguayan president Jose Mujica and Paraguay’s Fernando Lugo.

The state of Palestine proclaimed in 1998 in Algeria and so far 104 countries have recognized it.

Latinamerican countries recognition has left Israel “uneasy and is likely to exacerbate tensions in the Israeli diplomatic community” which aims to block further recognitions, forecasted Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

One outcome of the flurry of Israeli diplomatic activities, according to an Arab diplomatic source in Brussels, headquarters to the European Union, is the recent statement made by the EU to underline that it would not recognise a unilaterally declared Palestinian state.

The statement was issued only two days after the EU Council of Foreign Ministers adopted a statement indicating the willingness of the EU to recognise a Palestinian state at the appropriate time.

Moreover, according to an Arab diplomatic source in Washington, it is the influence of the Israeli lobby in the US capital that led to the recently adopted US Congress resolution that rejects recognition of a Palestinian state outside of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement.

”We are getting into the holidays season (Christmas and New Year) but members of the Israeli delegation are actively working to lobby member states against recognition of a Palestinian state, even if this recognition is purely symbolic, because obviously there is no Palestinian state,” said the Arab source in New York.