Palestinian President Abbas
Photo: AP
Incoming President Dilma Rousseff
Photo: AP
Abbas to lay cornerstone of Palestinian embassy in Brazil
Palestinian president to hold ceremony following Brasilia's decision to recognize Palestinian state
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas is to lay the symbolic first stone of an embassy in Brazil this week, following Brasilia's decision to recognize a Palestinian state, the Palestinian representative told AFP.
Abbas will head the stone-laying ceremony on Friday, and on Saturday he will attend the inauguration ceremony for Brazil's new president, Dilma Rousseff, Palestinian diplomatic representative Ibrahim al-Zeben said.
Diplomatic Battle
Ronen Medzini
Foreign Ministry fears if Mexico joins three Latin American states which have already recognized state within 1967 borders, 'wave' will be hard to stop
Brazil angered Israel and the United States early this month when it declared it was recognizing a sovereign Palestinian state within the borders before the 1967 Six Day War.
Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia have since followed suit.
The other Latin American countries that previously recognized an independent Palestine are Cuba, Nicaragua, Costa Rica Venezuela.
Israel has called the declarations "regrettable," and said a Palestinian state should only be defined with its assent.
Lawmakers in the United States, Israel's close ally, have also criticized the moves.
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