Argentina recognizes Palestinian state

Argentina has become the second Latin American state after Brazil to recognize Palestine as an independent state.

In a letter to acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas on Monday, Argentine President Cristina Kirchner wrote that her country recognizes Palestine as a “free and independent state” as defined by the 1967 borders, AFP reported.

On Friday, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry announced that Brasilia recognizes the Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.

The Brazilian announcement came in a public letter in response to a personal request by Abbas on November 24.

The Brazilian letter expressed support for the Palestinians’ quest for a homeland as a “legitimate aspiration of the Palestinian people for a secure, united, democratic and economically viable state.”

The move has infuriated officials in Tel Aviv.

US Congressman Eliot Engel criticized the Brazilian move and said, “Brazil’s decision to recognize Palestine is severely misguided and represents a last gasp by a Lula-led foreign policy which was already substantially off track.”

The international community backs Palestinian demands for a state in most of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem), all territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.