Pres Lula of Brazil,while in Palestine,(re; Hamas)"Brazil is prepared to talk to everybody," he said. "All the parties involved must be listened to."
- From: GLOBALIST <free.tuneup@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2010 05:50:16 -0700 (PDT)
Lula criticises Israeli policies
Lula's visit is the first by a sitting Brazilian president to Israel
and the Palestinian territories [AFP]
Brazil's president has criticised Israeli policies towards the
Palestinians, warning that Israel's separation barrier, its blockade
of Gaza and its continued settlement building was extinguishing "the
candle of hope".
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva made his comments while on a visit to the
West Bank where, on Wednesday, he placed a wreath on the tomb Yasser
Arafat, the late Palestinian leader.
What Lula terms his "mission of peace" began in Israel on Tuesday, and
is the first visit by a sitting Brazilian president to Israel and the
Palestinian territories.
Brazil is Israel's largest trading partner in Latin America, but it
also has close ties to Iran and Lula has defended Iran's nuclear
ambitions, which Tehran says are peaceful but which Israel sees as a
potential threat.
Lula laid a yellow and green wreath on Arafat's mausoleum in Ramallah
and told a crowd of Palestinian officials and several dozen people
waving Brazil's flag that he had participated in pro-Palestinian
protests in the past.
Later Lula said that Brazil was willing to talk to Hamas, which is
listed by the European Union and the US as a "terrorist" organisation.
"Brazil is prepared to talk to everybody," he said. "All the parties
involved must be listened to."
International player
Lula's comments are unlikely to have endeared him to Israel.
A day earlier, Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's foreign minister, said he
had boycotted meetings with Lula because the Brazilian president did
not pay a visit to the grave of Theodor Herzl, one of the founders of
Zionism.
"[Brazil's] unique selling point in the Middle East is their
engagement with Iran"
Colin Harding,
Latin American analyst
Colin Harding, London-based a Latin America analyst, told Al Jazeera
that Lula's visit aimed at helping Brazil emerge as a bigger player on
the world stage.
"Brazil, under Lula, has been pressing very hard for a permanent seat
on the Security Council of the United Nations, and if Brazil can
intervene in some effective way in the Middle East crisis, this would
clearly do Brazil's chances no harm at all," he said.
"Their unique selling point in the Middle East is their engagement
with Iran ... and I think they hope this policy of engagement will
help to bring Iran in as part of the solution rather than part of the
problem."
EU efforts
Also visiting Palestinian leaders on Wednesday was Catherine Ashton,
the European Union's foreign policy chief, on the first leg of a two-
day visit to the region.
Like Lula, Ashton has criticised Israeli settlement building, telling
Arab leaders in Cairo on Monday that the settlements threaten peace
talks and are illegal.
During a joint news conference in occupied Jerusalem with Lieberman,
Ashton also called for the immediate resumption of peace talks.
"I believe that it's in the long term interest of this country that
this government, together with the Palestinians, determine that future
and the sooner we get to the talks, the better," she said.
She also said the so-called Quartet of Middle East negotiators would
be "reinvigorated" in their efforts.
Economic pressures
Jacky Rowland, Al Jazeera's Jerusalem correspondent, said: "I think
plenty of people on the ground here have wondered what the Quartet is
- it's this body that brings together the Russians, the Americans the
EU and the UN - but actually it hasn't been seen to be having much
impact here on the ground."
Ashton, left, called for the resumption of talks between Israel and
the Palestinians [AFP]
She continued: "It's difficult to say exactly how pressure on Israel
might be exerted, it certainly wouldn't be exerted in public press
conference, it's far more likely to go on behind the scenes.
"What Ashton did stress though was that the EU's role was much more an
economic one than a political one ... she said the EU was there to
provide the economic weight to support the process."
A Quartet meeting to be held in Moscow this week appears likely to be
dominated by the issue of Israel's settlement construction.
Israel's continued settlement building has caused a crisis Israel
relations with the US after Israel unveiled plans to construct 1,600
new homes on occupied Palestinian land during a visit by Joesph Biden,
the US vice-president.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
.
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