RAMALLAH, August 8, 2018 (WAFA) - Outgoing Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, in presence of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, Aría Ángela Holguín, handed an official letter from the foreign minister to Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki stating that "the President of the Republic of Colombia has decided to recognize the State of Palestine."

The recognition came days before the end of President Santos’ term in office, and before the newly-elected president, Ivan Duque, assumes office. The step was approved by the newly-elected president, Duque.

This decision came following years of intensive efforts exerted by the Palestinian foreign ministry, represented by Malki, as well as by Palestine’s diplomatic mission in Colombia.

Colombia was the only South American country that did not yet recognize the State of Palestine.

T.R.</s>Colombia has decided to recognize Palestine as a "free, independent and sovereign" state, the Palestinian Diplomatic Mission in Bogota said Wednesday.

"This decision is synonymous with the work carried out to strengthen diplomatic ties between the Palestinian and Colombian governments, an effort that…will definitively be strengthened in the near future," the mission said in a press release.

Colombia was the only South American nation that had not recognized Palestine as a sovereign state. Its decision brings the number of countries worldwide that do so to 140.

Alexander Montero, political adviser to the Palestinian Diplomatic Mission in Bogota, said the decision was taken after a long struggle and series of conversations with many Colombian governments. In fact, Palestine has had diplomatic representation in Colombia for the past 22 years.

"The Colombian government took into account that it was the only South American country and one of only two Latin American countries [along with Panama] that had not taken this step. But the most important thing is that this comes as a novel action to foster peace in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine," Montero told Anadolu Agency.

"These types of recognitions are elements that help promote peace, since they allow for the protection of the Palestinian population, or at least they foster mechanisms that try to guarantee their protection."

The measure, announced Wednesday, was a decision by the Colombian state and backed by the outgoing government of former president Juan Manuel Santos and incoming government of Ivan Duque.

"Although it is true that the Santos government was the one that proposed this step, it is very important that the decision was made public today, since it shows a high degree of friendship stemming from the new Colombian government," said Montero.

The decision took many by surprise because during his campaign, Duque said he was open to the possibility of recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital, which Montero said would not be coherent with recognizing Palestine as an independent state.

"That decision [on Jerusalem], only taken by [U.S. President] Donald Trump's government and some uninfluential countries in Latin America, is not legal and does not help peace in any way."

Palestine embarked on a strategy to seek international recognition as an independent state in 1988 with its declaration of independence. Between 2009 and 2010, a second phase began, during which many countries decided to recognize it as an independent state. In 2012, the United Nations General Assembly granted Palestine the status of non-member observer state.</s>Colombia recognized Palestine as a sovereign state in the days before new President Ivan Duque took office, according to a letter from the foreign ministry made public on Wednesday.

"I would like to inform you that in the name of the government of Colombia, President Juan Manuel Santos has decided to recognize Palestine as a free, independent and sovereign state," said the letter dated August 3.

New Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes said he would review the "implications" of the previous government's decision, in accordance with international law and good diplomatic practice.

"It is a priority for this government to maintain cooperative relations with its allies and friends, and to contribute to international peace and security," Holmes said.

Before the announcement, Colombia had been one of only two countries in the region, along with Panama, not to recognize Palestinian statehood.

Bogota, an ally of the United States, has historically maintained close ties with Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been scheduled to arrive in Colombia on Monday but called off the trip at the last minute, saying he needed to focus on developments along his country's border with the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian mission in Bogota told AFP that they were told of the decision last Friday. It welcomed the move by Bogota as evidence of "profound efforts to reach a rapprochement."</s>Colombia’s new government said it would review former President Juan Manuel Santos’ recognition of Palestine after the previously unreleased decision was made public on Wednesday.

President Ivan Duque took office on Tuesday and was informed a few days ago of Santos’ decision, which was detailed in an 3 August letter to the Palestinian representative in Colombia, the foreign ministry said.

“Given possible omissions that could come to light about the way in which this decision was taken by the outgoing president, the government will cautiously examine its implications and will act according to international law,” new Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes said in a statement.

Santos decided to recognize Palestine as a “free, independent and sovereign state,” according to the letter, which was circulated to reporters by the foreign ministry.

“Just as the Palestinian people have a right to constitute an independent state, Israel has a right to live in peace alongside its neighbors,” the letter said.

The Israeli embassy in Bogota said it was surprised and disappointed.

“We ask the Colombian government to reverse the decision made by the previous administration in its last days, which contravenes the close relations, extensive cooperation in vital areas and interests of both countries,” it said in a statement posted to its Twitter account.

The decision came to light during a visit to Colombia by United States ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. She attended Duque’s inauguration on Tuesday and on Wednesday visited Venezuelan migrants in the northern border city of Cucuta.

The United States, a close ally of Israel, was getting more information about the situation and had no immediate comment, the US mission to the United Nations said.

“We thank the Colombian government for this decision and we are sure that it will contribute significantly to generating the necessary conditions in the search for peace in the Middle East,” the Palestine representative said in a statement on Wednesday.

Palestine has been recognized as a sovereign state by the U.N. General Assembly, the International Criminal Court and at least 136 countries.

Palestine seeks to create a state in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, lands that Israel captured in the 1967 war.

Colombia abstained in December from a vote by the 193-member UN General Assembly on a resolution calling for the United States to drop its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. US President Donald Trump had threatened to cut off financial aid to countries that voted in favor.</s>Colombia's new government said it would review former President Juan Manuel Santos' recognition of Palestine after the previously unreleased decision was made public on Wednesday.

BOGOTA: Colombia's new government said it would review former President Juan Manuel Santos' recognition of Palestine after the previously unreleased decision was made public on Wednesday.

President Ivan Duque took office on Tuesday and was informed a few days ago of Santos' decision, which was detailed in an Aug. 3 letter to the Palestinian representative in Colombia, the foreign ministry said.

"Given possible omissions that could come to light about the way in which this decision was taken by the outgoing president, the government will cautiously examine its implications and will act according to international law," new Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes said in a statement.

Santos decided to recognise Palestine as a "free, independent and sovereign state," according to the letter, which was circulated to reporters by the foreign ministry.

"Just as the Palestinian people have a right to constitute an independent state, Israel has a right to live in peace alongside its neighbours," the letter said.

The decision came to light during a visit to Colombia by United States ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. She attended Duque's inauguration on Tuesday and on Wednesday visited Venezuelan migrants in the northern border city of Cucuta.

The United States, a close ally of Israel, was getting more information about the situation and had no immediate comment, the U.S. mission to the United Nations said.

"We thank the Colombian government for this decision and we are sure that it will contribute significantly to generating the necessary conditions in the search for peace in the Middle East," the Palestine representative said in a statement on Wednesday.

Palestine has been recognised as a sovereign state by the U.N. General Assembly, the International Criminal Court and at least 136 countries.

Palestine seeks to create a state in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, lands that Israel captured in the 1967 war.

Colombia abstained in December from a vote by the 193-member U.N. General Assembly on a resolution calling for the United States to drop its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. U.S. President Donald Trump had threatened to cut off financial aid to countries that voted in favour.

The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest obstacles to a peace deal between Israel and Palestine, who were furious over Trump's move. The international community does not recognise Israeli sovereignty over the full city.</s>“The embassy of Palestine is very pleased to inform that the government of the republic of Colombia has decided to recognise Palestine as a free, independent and sovereign state,” the statement read.

The decision was taken by the government of former president Juan Manuel Santos, who handed over office to his successor Ivan Duque on Tuesday.

"We are conscious of the difficulties and suffering that the Palestinian population has faced," Santos’ foreign minister Maria Angela Holguin had previously written to her Palestinian counterpart Riyad al-Maliki.

More than 130 countries have already recognised the independence of Palestine.</s>BOGOTA – Colombia’s new government said it would review former President Juan Manuel Santos’ recognition of Palestine after the previously unreleased decision was made public on Wednesday.

President Ivan Duque took office on Tuesday and was informed a few days ago of Santos’ decision, which was detailed in an Aug. 3 letter to the Palestinian representative in Colombia, the foreign ministry said.

“Given possible omissions that could come to light about the way in which this decision was taken by the outgoing president, the government will cautiously examine its implications and will act according to international law,” new Foreign Minister Carlos Holmes said in a statement.

“Just as the Palestinian people have a right to constitute an independent state, Israel has a right to live in peace alongside its neighbors,” the letter said.

The Israeli embassy in Bogota said it was surprised and disappointed.

“We ask the Colombian government to reverse the decision made by the previous administration in its last days, which contravenes the close relations, extensive cooperation in vital areas and interests of both countries,” it said in a statement posted to its Twitter account.

The decision came to light during a visit to Colombia by United States ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. She attended Duque’s inauguration on Tuesday and on Wednesday visited Venezuelan migrants in the northern border city of Cucuta.

The United States, a close ally of Israel, was getting more information about the situation and had no immediate comment, the U.S. mission to the United Nations said.

“We thank the Colombian government for this decision and we are sure that it will contribute significantly to generating the necessary conditions in the search for peace in the Middle East,” the Palestine representative said in a statement on Wednesday.

As of 3 August 2018, 137 of the 193 member states of the United Nations and two non-member states have recognized the State of Palestine. Many of the countries that do not recognize the State of Palestine nevertheless recognize the PLO as the “representative of the Palestinian people“. On 29 November 2012, the UN General Assembly passed a motion changing Palestine’s “entity” status to “non-member observer state” by a vote of 138 to 9, with 41 abstentions

Palestine seeks to create a state in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, lands that Israel captured in the 1967 war.

Colombia abstained in December from a vote by the 193-member U.N. General Assembly on a resolution calling for the United States to drop its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. U.S. President Donald Trump had threatened to cut off financial aid to countries that voted in favor.</s>Colombia on Wednesday became the last South American country to recognize Palestine as a "free, independent and sovereign" state, a decision taken by the former administration, while the country's new foreign minister said the relevant implications will be analyzed.

In a letter dated Aug. 3, former Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin, who left office Tuesday, informed her then Palestinian counterpart, Riad Malik, of Colombia's decision.</s>Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: “Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you. Isaiah 49:7 (The Israel Bible™)

The Israeli embassy in Bogotá, Colombia criticised the government’s decision to grant formal recognition to a Palestinian state and said the move contradicted the good relations between the two countries. The embassy stressed that as a friendly government, Jerusalem would have expected to have been forewarned of a dramatic policy shift.

“This decision is in complete contradiction to the good relations between Israel and Colombia, and the close ties between the prime minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] and the new president of Colombia, Iván Duque… When we have a good relationship, we expect to be warned about decisions like this or changes in policy, so we were very surprised,” the embassy wrote in a statement.

The government of outgoing President Juan Manuel Santos decided to recognize “Palestine” on August 3. But the policy shift was only announced on August 8, after the inauguration of the new government. The foreign minister of the new government announced that the measure would be reconsidered.

Despite the back-and-forth policy, a local Spanish-language commentator on Latin American and Israeli affairs said the decision would have little impact, either on bilateral ties or on the international level.

“I don’t believe this decision will not have any implications on relations with Israel,” said Dr. Gustavo D. Perednik, a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina and the author of 15 books on Israel, Latin America and Jewish philosophy. “The new government is very friendly with Israel so it doesn’t really matter what the outgoing president said. Colombia will even probably move their embassy to Jerusalem, if Duque is asked to by President Trump.”

On a regional level, too, Perednik said the policy is not likely to signify a wide-spread policy shift. He noted that Bogotá was one of the last Latin American countries to recognise a Palestinian state, but added that Netanyahu’s trip to South and Central America last year was both the result of improving diplomatic and economic ties in recent years and contributed to continued expansion.

Netanyahu cancelled a scheduled trip to Colombia at the last minute last week, saying he wanted to oversee developments in the south in real time, particularly the visit of Saleh al-Arouri, the founding commander of Hamas’ Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades armed wing who is believed to be the organization’s commander in Judea and Samaria. The premier had been scheduled to attend the inauguration of incoming President Iván Duque and to hold meetings with several Latin American leaders.</s>If England were to occupy Mexico and agree with a certain religious or ethnic group’s claim to it, the phone at ten Downing Street would probably ring off the hook; most world leaders would be calling the British Prime Minister to condemn this blatant act. England manages to secure the success of its plan and facilitates the transport of many waves of illegal immigrants to Guadalajara, Tijuana, and Monterrey. The people rushing into ships and airplanes to their new homeland can be Yazidis, Bahraini Shiites, or any other minority that has suffered at the hands of an absurdly stronger dogmatic organization with little assistance from the international community. The recently victimized people of Rohingya would fit the profile just fine.

England also succeeds in deleting the name “Mexico” at the United Nations and the once victimized and exhausted people of Rohingya form armed gangs and begin committing atrocities against the civilians living in Mexican villages and then towns and cities. Hundreds of thousands of Mexicans flee southwards to live in refugee camps from Guatemala to Colombia.

England pulls out of Mexico leaving the Rohingya population to marginalize every remaining Mexican into a second-class citizen or less. They are also given the facility to create the most superior army in the region, to a point where they start invading parts of neighboring countries and calling it annexation.

Of course, all of the above is not true. Mexico is too powerful to be stolen and the good people of Rohingya are not land thieves. But the story is just made up to explain to the new generations what really happened in Palestine and the region.

Palestinians have lost their country to a group of foreigners claiming that their god had promised them the land. These foreigners came from many countries where they are already citizens. They speak of antisemitism when many of them are actually Europeans annihilating the original Semites of the land. The rationale of it all is beyond logic.

In a world that advocates religious freedom, how can it be acceptable to impose someone’s beliefs on others? How can someone say that his “god” is more correct than yours and that his “god” has promised him your home? According to them, “god” has favorites among the humans he had created and that he has categorized the overwhelming majority as Goyim who are equal to cattle and are destined to serve the chosen ones who are blessed in their massacres of little children in Gaza just like he blessed their butchery of every living person in Deir Yassin.

These same chosen ones denounced the biased and discriminatory Egyptian gods who approved their enslavement. Yet, they fanatically worship the one allowing them to enslave others.

Palestine was officially deleted from so many history books and from the charter of the world’s main authority on countries, the United Nations. This happened during a time when the Germans were still trying to understand how it was possible to literally melt down tens of thousands of women and children in one long air raid and the Japanese were trying to figure out if the radioactive effects of two atomic bombs would eventually kill the rest of them. On the other side of the world, much closer to the land being raped, some Arabs were busy creating a covert Zionist state in Mecca while others were establishing the worst Machiavellian dictatorships under the pretense of progressive revolutions.

The average Arab citizen, Christian and Muslim, had and still has his heart in the right place. The long Ottoman invasion did its best to fight all chances of education for those Arabs. Then came the British and French invasions that delivered an abundance of education; only, this education was targeted towards the submission of future generations to a Zionist vision of what the Arab society should be like. The acceptance of an “Israeli” tree being irrigated with Palestinian blood in the Arab orchard was to be achieved.

The well-placed plan began with encouraging Arabs to attack the “Israelis”. Among the first and second line leaders of those Arabs were ones who worked directly with the British intelligence services and others who served unknowingly. This needed to be done so as to march the Western world’s opinion to the rescue of the poor minority who had just barely escaped total Nazi annihilation. Of course, the Arab campaign failed miserably but not because the “Israeli” gangs were strong; rather, due to traitors placed in the highest government ranks. Then the so-called chosen people needed more Western support, so more Arab campaigns with preset plans of failure were required.

All this was to delete not only the name Palestine from the world map but, to delete any traces of a Palestinian identity as well.

Things very rarely work perfectly as planned though. The Syrians had Hafez Assad for a leader – Love him or hate him, everyone agrees that the man was a genius. He knew that fake Islamic movements would be utilized to break Arab countries from within. He also knew that betting on Western regimes would mean a national loss in dignity and geography. The man held his ground and forged correct alliances. The proof to that is Syria today; it simply would not have the whole world trying to break it down if the Assad legacy was not on the right ethical track.

Then there were the highly educated common well-read people in other Arab countries; most of whom were imprisoned or assassinated by their governments for voicing out animosities against the reality of the Zionist colonial scheme. Only regime-controlled opinions were allowed in the media.

No other people on earth have been subject to a conspiracy this big and this well planned. The Palestinians were not only to have the claim to their home wiped out but the reference to it as well. If a Palestinian today would say “I want what is mine back,” the answer would be “You can’t have what was never yours.” After all, and thanks to the dominant Zionist media, the whole world thinks “Israel” is a real national entity.

Freedom of opinion dictates that people may choose what they believe in. Arthur Balfour may only give away his own property and not an inch of that which he holds no deed to. This is the belief of people who agree with justice. If it is legal and acceptable for England to invade and give Mexico away then an argument could be considered regarding another country; one like Palestine. But, theft is a battled concept.

No possible amount of years can deprive the righteous of their rights. No amount of instigating media can make right of what is wrong. Palestine is a reality and it is made of Arabs belonging to many religions and sects, including Judaism. Ottoman oppression is not a valid pretext for British acquisition.

England is responsible for what the Palestinians are enduring today. As far as many are concerned, England never really pulled out of Palestine regardless of what it declared. The fact is, regular troops were exchanged with European mercenaries carrying the star of David for a banner.
The Mission of Palestine in Colombia announces recognition of the State of Palestine as a free and sovereign state.