Ramallah \u2013 Beside the presidnet of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Mahmoud Abbas, president Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva said today (17), in a press conference in Ramallah, West Bank, that the disagreement between the governments of the United Statse and Isreal about the Israeli decision of building 1,600 new homes in Eastern Jerusalem, which the Palestinians consider occupied territory, may even help in the peace negotiations in the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat seemed impossible ended up happening, the United States had a disagreement with Israel,\u201d said Lula. \u201cIt may be the magic thing that was missing for an agreement to be reached, a disagreement between the two allies may be a chance for the success that needs to be built,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The announcement of construction of housing units took place when North American vice president Joe Biden was visiting Israel. The fact irritated the government of the US and generated criticism from the Barack Obama adminstration, as the freeze of new settlements was considered a necessary theme to the return of peace talks.<\/p>\n
A few days earlier, the Arab League and the PNA had agreed to return to talks in an indirect manner, through an intermediary, the US special envoy for the Middle East, George Mitchel, who ended up cancelling the visit he had scheduled to the region this week.<\/p>\n
Abbas said that the PNA still agrees with the indirect negotiations without any pre-conditions, but insists that the rules that had been established previously be complied with, in this case the halt in new settlements. \u201cIsrael must comply with what it has agreed to do, we only ask for them to follow what was agreed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe expansion of settlements must stop, or else it may put out the flame of hope,\u201d agreed Lula, who visited Israel last week. \u201cBrazil is betting on the capacity of the Middle East to reach a future in harmony,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Abbas stated that Brazil is very important worldwide and may \u201cuse this power\u201d in search of peace. He recalled, however, urgent themes for the Palestinians, like the end to the siege on Gaza Strip by the Israeli army. Lula agreed that the blocade to Gaza must end and that the \u201cwall separating them must come down\u201d, referring to the concrete wall that separates the West Bank and Israel.<\/p>\n
The president of Brazil added that he also took to Israel a message of the \u201curgency of peace\u201d and that most of the Israelis want the return to talks. \u201cBrazil is convinced that it may contribute to speeding up the process,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Union<\/b><\/p>\n
Lula said he would like to see the establishment of a Palestinian State that is \u201csafe and viable, especially regarding its territory\u201d. He pointed out, however, that consensus is necessary between the Palestinians regarding the solution of two states – Israel and Palestine -, the pillar of negotiations.<\/p>\n
The PNA is favourable to talks and to two states, but Hamas, which controls Gaza Strip, is against them. \u201cThe Palestinian people hope to be represented by just one voice in the negotiations,\u201d said Lula, adding that this voice must be moderate.<\/p>\n
The president said that Brazil is ready to host the meetings of groups that support peace and that the country is prepared \u201cto talk to those of importance in the negotiation process and that may have an influence in the construction\u201d of peace. \u201cThere is no political force, right or left, that our country refuses to talk to,\u201d he said, suggesting that the country may talk to Hamas if that is the desire of those involved. \u201cWe are available for all the talks deemed necessary,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
In the same line, Abbas said that \u201cunity between the Palestinians is very importrant\u201d and that the PNA continues open to the signing of the agreement with Hamas proposed by the government of Egypt. To him, Brazil may help convince the parties involved.<\/p>\n
Despite the delicate moment, Lula said he is an optimist. \u201cI do not believe that there is in the world a human being more optimistic than I am,\u201d he said. \u201cThat is why I believe in peace between Palestine and Israel. All those I talk to want peace,\u201d he pointed out. \u201cThere are things that need to be fixed and it is in the hands of the political leaders [of the region] to come to an agreement. Brazil is going to do all it can to reach peace,\u201d he finished off.<\/p>\n
Jordan<\/b><\/p>\n
After the meeting with Abbas, Lula headed to Jordan, the last phase of his trip to the Middle East. He and first lady Marisa Let\u00edcia met king Abdullah II and queen Rania at Al-Humman Palace, in King Hussein Park, in Amman.<\/p>\n
Tomorrow the president should have a series of meetings with Jordanian authorities and should close the busienss seminar organized by the governments of Jordan and Brazil with the support of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce<\/b>.<\/p>\n
*Translated by Mark Ament<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The president of Brazil said in Ramallah that the US government\u2019s irritation with Isreal due to new settlements \u2018may be a magical thing that was lacking for the agreement\u2019 with Palestine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1454,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-34070","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-foreign-affairs"},"wps_subtitle":"The president of Brazil said in Ramallah that the US government\u2019s irritation with Isreal due to new settlements \u2018may be a magical thing that was lacking for the agreement\u2019 with Palestine.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1454"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34070\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}