Following from the United Nations General Assembly in New York last month, where Mahmood Abbas, president of the Palestinian National Authority petitioned the international organization for the creation of an independent Palestinian state, Abbas announced an unexpected Latin American tour, whose intentions remain a matter of debate. Abbas traveled first to the Dominican Republic where he was received by President Leonel Fernández who ratified Dominican confidence in the creation of the Palestinian state and its admission to the United Nations as a full member. This was followed by a visit to El Salvador where President Mauricio Funes also expressed his full support for the Palestinian cause, following in the steps of his Dominican counterpart. According to Honduran President Porfirio Lobo, the unexpected visit of Abbas coincided with his trip to Vatican City to meet with Pope Benedict XVI and thus he was unable to receive him. Abbas on the other hand, continued his Latin American tour to Colombia, where he landed on the night of October 8 with a tight agenda that included meetings with Deputy Mayor of Bogota Clara López, with Chancellor Angela Holguín and with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, among other social events with diplomats from the Arab league and the local Palestinian community. In spite of the great support that the Palestinian cause has always received from Latin American governments, Colombia and Mexico have joined their ally, the United States, in expressing a motion of no confidence in the creation of a Palestinian state without direct talks with the Israeli government that ensure the goal of long-term peace, prior to the declaration of statehood. Upon his arrival, Abbas and his team, that include the UN envoy Riad Mansour among others, expressed publicly that he was not intending to visit Colombia in order to try and change the Colombian government´s decision in the United Nations. This is of particular importance because so far only Bosnia and Colombia had remained undecided at the United Nations, not to mention the fact that two Latin American nations, Colombia and Brazil, occupy at the moment a seat on the United Nations security council, with Brazil´s President Dilma Roussef expressing univocal support for Abbas and leaving the position of the Colombian government open to debate. The day before the arrival of President Abbas, the Palestinian ambassador to Colombia, Imad Nabil Jadaa, gave an interview to Colombian daily “El Espectador” where he reiterated that the plan was for Abbas to try and explore together with the Colombian government the possibility of its mediation in a possible renewal of peace dialogues between Israel and Palestine. Abbas met first with Bogota´s Deputy Mayor Clara López from opposition left-wing party “Polo Democrático” who honored him with the keys of the city and offered a reception in his honor in which she expressed unabated support for Palestine´s bid at the UN; showing a certain degree of friction with the official position of the government. This became even clearer before the meeting with President Santos, when foreign minister Angela Holguín expressed a very cool and distant support for the bid, in line with the United States. During the meeting, President Santos was firm on his position that peace would be a previous step to statehood and made it completely clear what the Colombian position would be now and in the future. Colombia is a long-time ally of the United States in the war on drugs and has been ruled by right wing and moderate right wing governments for over ten years now, what has led to much friction with neighboring nations such as Venezuela, Ecuador and Guatemala, that see the Colombian government with great suspicion as a spokesman for American interests in the region. The country also enjoys great commercial and military ties with the State of Israel who in the past has provided extensive military training to Colombian armed forces, arms supply and support in security training. This cooperation has been not without scandals such as that of the infamous Yair Klein, requested on extradition by the Colombian government on charges of paramilitary activities in Colombia during the 1990´s. This request has been deliberately ignored by Israel. After the meeting with President Santos, Colombian international news network NTN24´s all-times popular show “La Noche” ran a special the night of October 11th on Abbas visit, for the occasion, Palestinian UN envoy Riad Mansour and Israeli vice-chancellor Danny Ayalon were interviewed live. Mansour stressed the achievements of the Palestinian authority in gathering support from over two thirds of the world´s nations for the statehood bid and the creation of legitimate institutions that in his view make the conditions ripe for a declaration of statehood. Ayalon on the other hand expressed disappointment with Abbas rallying for support abroad when in his view the time is ripe to hold conversations between Jerusalem and Ramallah. Ayalon accused Abbas of not showing respect or dignity toward the Israelis and made it clear that Jerusalem has requested from friendly nations to block Abbas efforts abroad, calling them stubborn and irresponsible. When asked about the freeze on settlements and dismantling of outposts in the West Bank, he circumvented the issue by stating that those are merely excuses on the part of the Palestinian Authority to avoid the real issues of politics and security with which the conflict is long fraught. Mansour responded that there had to be reciprocity of terms for the entire duration of any peace talks, stating Israel´s lack of commitment to its obligations according to international law in regard to settlements, outposts and water. In the meantime the Colombian government remains committed to the position of Israel and the United States to block the bid for statehood under present conditions. The history of Colombian engagement with the Arab-Israeli conflict is riddled with silence and indifference. Colombia abstained from voting in favor or against the creation of the State of Israel adducing at the time, in a letter to the United Nations, that the role of the organization was to ensure peace in the region and not to decide on partitions of land. At this same time, restrictive quotas were imposed on Jewish immigration from Europe while many immigrants from Syria, Palestine and Lebanon made their way to the Colombian northern coast, where they are long established a part of the diverse ethnic landscape of the country since the end of the 19th century. Colombia maintains friendly relations with nearly all the nations in the Arab League and also with the State of Israel. Abbas is expected to leave Colombia in order to continue to Venezuela to meet with President Hugo Chavez, a declared enemy of the United States, Israel and of previous Colombian governments; diplomatic efforts on the part of the current government have somewhat mended the once broken ties but relations remain tense. In the eyes of the Colombian public, the government is simply following orders of the United States for its own convenience since a free trade agreement being negotiated between Colombia and the United States is at the moment due for approval soon; not to mention that many political commentators as much as the everyman in the street are fond of saying that a government that has been unable to solve its own internal conflicts for over half a century, would have little to add in serving as mediator in a conflict happening far away where no Colombian interests are vested. BM
