Peru joins Latin wave recognizing Palestine state
Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Belaunde says since 1947 his country has 'maintained in UN that Palestinian state should exist alongside secure Israel'
Peru recognized a “free and sovereign” Palestine state on Monday, Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Belaunde said, joining a wave of Latin American countries to take the step.
“Today the government communicated to the ambassador of Palestine in Lima recognition of the Palestinian state as free and sovereign,” he said.
Brazil led the move to recognize Palestine late last year, and has since been joined by Uruguay, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador and Chile.
An Israeli official earlier this month dismissed recognition of a Palestinian state by the Latin Americans as “a useless and empty gesture because it will not change anything.”
Israel has warned that declarations by Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia and Ecuador, among others, could undermine the Middle East peace process.
But with peace talks stalled, the Palestinians have said they are considering new diplomatic options, and have welcomed the recognition.
'Highly damaging interference'
Belaunde did not say what borders Peru recognized, only that details of the decision would come later.
“Peru since 1947 has maintained in the United Nations that there should exist a state of Israel, with secure borders, and a Palestinian state,” he said. “That has been the position that Peru has permanently maintained.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas thanked Brazil several weeks ago for allowing his nation to open its first embassy in the Americas and said other countries were following suit.
Palestinian authorities are hoping for a diplomatic domino effect to back their claim for a state in all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Israel disputes the Palestinian claim on all the West Bank and east Jerusalem, land it captured from Jordan in a 1967 war and has extensively settled.
US-sponsored peace negotiations dating back two decades are predicated upon a Palestinian state being delineated with Israel's consent.
Direct peace talks revived by Washington in September after a year's suspension collapsed within weeks. A US drive to keep the process alive via third-party talks is in limbo.
In December, a senior US diplomat said recognition of a Palestinian state is premature. US Undersecretary of State William Burns said, "It's only through negotiation between the parties themselves, Palestinians and Israelis, that we'll be able to realize the two-state solution."
Israel has called Latin American countries' recognition of a Palestinian state "highly damaging interference" by countries that were never part of the Middle East peace process.
AFP, Reuters contributed to the report
- Follow Ynetnews on Facebook
