{"id":396353,"date":"2025-10-02T13:37:48","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T16:37:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/?p=396353"},"modified":"2025-10-02T13:37:50","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T16:37:50","slug":"memories-of-a-brazilian-diplomat-in-palestine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/memories-of-a-brazilian-diplomat-in-palestine\/","title":{"rendered":"Memories of a Brazilian diplomat in Palestine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 During his four years as head of Brazil\u2019s office in Ramallah, West Bank, Ambassador Alessandro Candeas experienced a variety of social, cultural, and diplomatic events, among many others. These are experiences that are now reaching bookstores in his latest book: Peregrina\u00e7\u00e3o e guerra: Anota\u00e7\u00f5es de um diplomata na Terra Santa<\/em> [Pilgrimage and war: Notes of a diplomat in the Holy Land] (Contracorrente<\/a> publisher).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now Brazil\u2019s Consul General in Lisbon, Portugal, Candeas answered some questions from ANBA about his book and his time in the Arab territory. \u201cIt was truly a very impactful experience\u2014being in Jerusalem, in Palestine, in the Holy Land, while also being in contact with Israel, and having lived through the Gaza War during the last two years of my term, which is undoubtedly a very intense experience,\u201d he says about his time at the office. He recalls\u2014and describes in the book\u2014that there had been expectations of conflict since the first half of 2023, which actually materialized at the end of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conflict that began in October 2023, the diplomat notes, was the experience that most marked him in the region due to the tension and complexity involved in evacuating Brazilians and bringing them back to Brazil. But it was not the only one: Candeas also mentions the itinerant consulates, occasions when office staff traveled to Gaza twice a year so that Brazilian residents there could carry out bureaucratic consular procedures. It was a way to circumvent the restrictions on the movement of people into and out of the territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Candeas also recalls achievements during his time at the office, beyond the repatriation of Brazilians. He cites the establishment of a study center for Portuguese language education, the strengthening of ties between Brazilian and Palestinian universities, the creation of a scholarship program for Palestinian refugees, and the promotion of cultural and business relations, including the ratification of the free trade agreement between Palestine and Mercosur in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The diplomat highlights the organization of Palestinian business missions to Brazil with support from the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce<\/strong> (ABCC<\/a>), an institution that played an \u201cextraordinary\u201d role in these trips. He cites the partnership of the ABCC\u2019s then-president Osmar Chohfi and former secretary-general Tamer Mansour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI believe the book isn\u2019t just a record of the war\u2014it\u2019s a record of bilateral relations or the evolution of those relations during my time there, from 2020 to 2024. And I am certain there\u2019s enormous potential for further growth. Brazil and Palestine are still far from realizing the true potential of our relationship,\u201d he says, citing various sectors where this growth could occur, in addition to political and economic ties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peregrina\u00e7\u00e3o e guerra<\/em> is divided into four parts, examining the origins of the Israeli-Arab-Palestinian conflict, his diplomatic experience in the region, the evacuation of Brazilians in 2023 due to the current conflict, and reflections on humanity and spirituality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Candeas is the author of articles and books on artificial intelligence, Brazil-Argentina relations, culture, and development. He holds a PhD in Socioeconomics of Development from the \u00c9cole des Hautes \u00c9tudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris and has served at the Brazilian embassies in Bogot\u00e1, Colombia, and Buenos Aires, Argentina, as well as at Brazil\u2019s delegation to the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO in Paris, France. Book launch events are scheduled between November and December in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte; Recife, Pernambuco; and Bras\u00edlia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quick facts<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peregrina\u00e7\u00e3o e guerra: anota\u00e7\u00f5es de um diplomata na Terra Santa<\/em>
Alessandro Candeas
Contracorrente publisher
364 pages
BRL 80<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more<\/em>:
Palestine-Mercosur: More ratifications expected<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Translated by Guilherme Miranda<\/strong><\/p>\n

Supplied<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Now Brazil\u2019s Consul General in Lisbon, Alessandro Candeas reflects in his new book on his four-year experience heading Brazil\u2019s office in Ramallah, West Bank.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2317,"featured_media":396358,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[9534,1824,7486,2084,31497,54533,2610,9897,4972],"class_list":{"0":"post-396353","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-culture","8":"tag-brazil-en","9":"tag-brazilian","10":"tag-conflict","11":"tag-diplomat","12":"tag-gaza-en-2","13":"tag-lisbon","14":"tag-mercosur","15":"tag-palestine-en","16":"tag-west-bank"},"wps_subtitle":"Now Brazil\u2019s Consul General in Lisbon, Alessandro Candeas reflects in his new book on his four-year experience heading Brazil\u2019s office in Ramallah, West Bank.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396353","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\/2317"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anba.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}