São Paulo – The president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Mahmoud Abbas, should come to Brazil next week to see the inauguration of president elect Dilma Roussef, on Saturday (1), in Brazilian capital Brasília. The visit should take place little over one month after president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced Brazilian government recognition of the Palestinian state.
Abbas’ arrival in Brazil is scheduled for Thursday (30), according to the embassy of Palestine to Brasília. On Friday (31), he should place the foundation stone for the new headquarters of the Palestinian embassy, to be built on land donated by the government of Brazil. The secretary general at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Michel Alaby, should represent the organisation at the ceremony.
The agenda has not yet been closed, but the president of Palestine should have bilateral meetings with other leaders to visit the Brazilian capital for Rousef’s inauguration.
This is Abbas’ second visit to Brazil. He was in the country in November 2009, and Lula repaid his trip in March this year, when he visited Bethlehem and Ramallah, in the West Bank.
The trip by the PNA president is taking place at a time in which peace talks between the Palestinians and Israelis are paralysed. Today, the main impasse is the Israeli government’s reluctance to stunt authorisation for the construction of real estate by settlers in areas occupied in the Six Day War, in 1967, especially in Eastern Jerusalem.
During the Lula term in office, Brazil sought greater participation in mediation of the conflict and defended the establishment of a Palestinian state according to the frontiers prior to 1967, when the West Bank, including part of Eastern Jerusalem, was under Arab dominion.
The Brazilian position regarding the Palestinian State was followed by Argentina and Bolivia, who also defend the frontiers prior to the Six Day War, the same position as that of the United Nations (UN).
The stance for creation of the Palestinian State, however, does not impede Brazil having good relations with Israel. This may be proved by the visit by Israeli president Shimon Peres to Brazil in November 2009, repaid by the Brazilian president in the same trip in which he visited the West Bank, as well as the agreement signed between the Mercosur and Israel, the first of the kind signed between the South American bloc with a nation outside Latin America. It is worth recalling that Brazil and Argentina are the largest economies in the bloc.
Brazil has also been granting humanitarian and financial aid to Palestinian projects, mainly after the Israeli attacks to Gaza Strip early last year. Efforts are also being made by the government and by private organisations for promotion of economic and trade relations.
*Translated by Mark Ament
