The Israeli people and especially the numerous Latin American Jewish communities ask themselves what is the process by which their countries of origin have decided to acknowledge jointly a Palestinian State that does not exist, within borders that never
How many officials in their respective Foreign Offices really know about the topic in question?
were.
The good commercial relations between the countries which are members of the MERCOSUR and Israel consolidated in 2007 through the signing of a Free Trade Agreement, the first one signed with a country that does not belong to Latin America.
These bilateral agreements deal with the most diverse economic fields. Brazil leads the commercial exchange of the bloc with Israel, with trade reaching 1.6 billion dollars in 2008.
As stated by former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the inauguration of his successor Dilma Rousseff, Brazil hopes to become in a few years, the fifth most powerful economy in the world.
Brazil is not only worried about leading the regional economic bloc or spreading its influence to the other countries of the region, but about becoming a relevant actor in the world order. As such, it intends to become a permanent member of the Security Council of the United Nations, together with the USA, Russia, England, France and China.
Itamaraí has its own agenda and its own geopolitical strategy in that direction in order to achieve its objectives. A clear example was its intervention in the conflict of Iran against the rest of the world due to its nuclear ambitions.
Brazilian diplomacy prepared, together with Turkey, a proposal in which both countries committed to examine Iranian activities in exchange for the delivery of enriched uranium on Turkish soil.
Although that attempt at mediation was rejected by the international community, it showed clearly Brazil’s intentions of drawing its own profile and becoming a dominating power.
During Lula’s period, the commercial and political relations of Brazil with the Arab World and Turkey underwent an enormous development. His last accomplishment, before finishing his term of presidency, was leading the acknowledgement of Palestine in the subcontinent.
The presence of the PA head Abbas at the inauguration ceremony of Rousseff, is a sign of the level of the relationship.
Immediately after the Brazilian acknowledgement, the neighbouring Argentinean government presided by Cristina Fernández quickly declared it acknowledged Palestine as “a free and independent State with the borders of 1967”. This decision, according to the Argentinean Minister of Foreign Affairs Timerman, was previously coordinated with Uruguay as well.
Cuba, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and obviously Venezuela had already taken that step in Latin America. Mexico is evaluating it and Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Chile have made it official. Chile did not mention specifically the 1967 borders, and there is certain speculation that Uruguay will adopt the same position in its official acknowledgement. On the other hand, Peru makes an interesting contribution. Not only does it not mention any specific borders, but it also makes a call in its declaration to those States who have not done it already, to fully acknowledge the State of Israel.
But beyond these specific cases, the dynamics encouraged by Brazil, have had an effect that is exactly the opposite of the one it states it is trying to achieve.
A Palestinian State with defined borders can only be the result of bilateral negotiations with Israel. In order to attain that result, both parties must recognize each other, be prepared to compromise in order to reach peace and commit to deem the conflict finished permanently.
By granting political advantages without negotiating, the message Latin American countries are conveying to the Palestinians is that they support their position of not negotiating directly.
Thus, not only do they not contribute to the conflict, but, on the contrary, they make it worse by endorsing the fact that the Palestinians do not appear at the negotiating table.
The most serious thing is, that contrary to what happens in any other conflict, even a regional one, Latin American countries are taking part in territorial controversies. By mentioning specific borders, the negative results can reach extraordinary proportions.
As a Latin American, I have the legitimate right to ask myself, how many officials in their respective Foreign Offices really know about the topic in question? How many of them know it is Israel who has accepted the solution of two States for two peoples and it is the Arabs who have rejected it? How many of them know that the so-called 1967 borders are really the lines of the 1949 armistice?
Would they be able to answer why a Palestinian State was not declared when those territories were under the administration of Jordan and Egypt? Don’t they consider it necessary that a common border be acknowledged and agreed on by both parties?
How do they intend to solve the problem of one government against another, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and another, dictatorial, fundamentalist and terrorist, the Hamas in the Gaza Strip?
Don’t they think that the fact that Hamas is not willing to recognize the right of Israel to exist is a difficult obstacle to achieve peace?
The land connection between both territories is not included in those borders, should they renounce it?
It does not seem a responsible course of action to establish such precise borders when there are so many topics related to them unsolved, such as the future of East Jerusalem, the return of the Palestinian refugees, the administration of the holy places, the fate of the Israeli settlements, the control of water, etc.
The real friends of both nations should support every effort to establish negotiations and reach specific agreements in the shortest period possible.
A real contribution would be to drop all high-sounding statements, not justifying or rewarding the Palestinians’ irresponsible attitude of avoiding assuming the representation of their people in serious negotiations, and persuading them to start building the State that they say the wish to build.