Argentina Latest Nation to Recognize Independent Palestine on '67 Borders

06.12.10

Ankara – PNN - Secretary-General of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Yasser Abed Rabbo said on Monday morning that the recognition of an independent Palestine by the state of Brazil has encouraged others, like Argentina, to follow suit.

Rabbo said Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner confirmed in a phone call to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday that her country would recognize an independent Palestine within the 1967 borders.

Kirchner also said that her recognition was not just a political gesture but a moral stand.

Abed Rabbo said he believed the recognition of Brazil and Argentina would encourage many other countries to follow in their footsteps. Brazil announced its official recognition last Friday, November 24, in a letter from Brazilian President Ignacio Lula da Silva to Abbas.

For their part, the Israeli foreign ministry and several American congressmen condemned Brazil for the action, and similar recriminations are likely to be directed at Argentina. The American government considers peace talks the only way to an independent Palestine alongside Israel, but those talks have been stalled for months over the issue of illegal Israeli settlements.

The smaller South American nation of Uruguay announced on September 18 that it could recognize Palestine within a year, then announced its full recognition on November 16. Argentine press said Uruguayan President Jose Mujica was “merely recognizing a fact of reality.”

More than 100 countries have recognized an independent Palestine within its '67 borders, most from Asia and Africa. Other emerging economic powers such as China and India have already done so.

Source: Palestine News Network.
Link: http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9234&Itemid=56.