The government of Colombian far-left President Gustavo Petro, which recently severed all diplomatic ties with Israel, will open an embassy in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Foreign Minister Luis Murillo announced on Wednesday.
Murillo said opening an embassy in Ramallah was intended to make it easier to recognise “Palestine” as a state.
“President Petro has given the order to open a Colombian embassy in Ramallah, a Colombian mission in Ramallah. This is the next step we are going to take,” Murillo told reporters in Bogota.
El Canciller translation: Repeat the President’s instructions Petrogstavo “This is the next stage of us leaving,” he said, opening the Colombian embassy in Ramallah, describing it as perhaps one of the most dangerous places for Palestinian scouts like those in the United States. pic.twitter.com/EmOvHgtBVU
— Colombia Cancilleria (@CancilleriaCol) May 22, 2024
Murillo said that former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos Recognized Palestine was born as a state in August 2018, just hours before the end of President Ivan Duque’s term and the start of his new administration, the conservative former President (2018-2022).
The Colombian foreign minister claimed at the 8th summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) that he had “led” efforts to secure UN recognition of Palestine as a state “with full rights”. host by St. Vincent and the Grenadines in March;
Murillo said:
President Petro also led a meeting of Latin American presidents in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, attended by the President of Brazil, the Chilean delegation, the Mexican Foreign Minister, and several other presidents, which agreed to take steps to ensure that Palestine is recognized as a state with full rights at the United Nations.
“We believe and are confident that more and more countries will recognize Palestine,” he continued.
Murillo insisted that the decision to open an embassy in Ramallah “is not against Israel, the Israeli people or the Jewish people,” but rather is a decision that has its roots in the U.N.’s 1990s Oslo Accords, which called for the creation of a two-state solution.
Gustavo Petro, Colombia’s first leftist president and former member of the Marxist M19 guerrilla group, is seeking to put an end to decades of friendly relations between Colombia and Israel following the unprecedented terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7 that left more than 1,200 people dead and hundreds of civilians taken hostage, including around 10,000 Israelis. dozen Latin American nationals.
Petro has repeatedly accused Israel and its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of committing “genocide” in their self-defense operations against Hamas. Petro has made a string of anti-Semitic accusations on social media, Accused The Israeli government is trying to turn Gaza into an Auschwitz-like concentration camp.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, March 19, 2023 (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via The Associated Press, File).
“If I had lived in Germany in 1933, I would have fought on the side of the Jews, and if I had lived in Palestine in 1948, I would have fought on the side of the Palestinians,” Petro wrote. “Now neo-Nazis want the destruction of the Palestinian people, freedom and culture. Now democrats and progressives want peace and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians.”
After repeated threats to do so after October 2023, Petro finally cut In early May, Colombia severed all ties with Israel. Claimed “Responsibility” for passing non-binding legislation Solution At the UN General Assembly in May, it called on the UN Security Council (UNSC) to reconsider granting full member state status to “Palestine”.
Petro’s Marxist M19 guerrillas Proudly He boasted about having been a member at a young age and carried out several notable terrorist attacks in Colombia during his nearly two decades of activity, including the 1985 attacks. Siege The terrorist attack at the Palace of Justice in Bogota was one of the deadliest in Colombian history.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro addresses a crowd during International Workers’ Day in Bogota, Colombia, on May 1, 2024 (Juancho Torres/Anadolu via Getty Images).
That day, approximately 35 M19 members stormed Colombia’s judicial building and took hundreds of civilians hostage. Nearly 100 civilians were killed during the siege, including 11 Colombian Supreme Court justices.
Peter publicly Claimed Some M19 members had previously trained and fought for the Palestine Liberation Organization and other groups.
Echoing the president’s repeated accusations of “genocide” against Israel, Murillo ended his speech this week by condemning Israel’s actions in self-defense, which he said were “creating” a “genocidal situation.”
