There has been a noticeable change of tone in the speeches of representatives of Latin American countries in relation to the Middle East conflict and Israel during the first few weeks of this year’s General Assembly compared with last year’s Assembly.
Diplomats and political analysts agree that the change is definitely in favor of Israel, which has not been as criticized nor attacked thus far this year as it was last year during the general debate in the Assembly.
“Last year the nations of Latin America, even those with close ties to Israel, joined the international criticism of Israel over the massacre at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps near Beirut,” an Israeli diplomat who is an expert on Latin America said in an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “This year, however, the expressions against Israel were much softer and cannot be compared to last year’s.”
But, the diplomat said, the change in tone toward Israel was influenced by a combination of factors. He noted that almost all Latin American countries are facing severe economic crises, with some of them, such as Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, on the verge of financial collapse because of their mounting foreign debts.
PREOCCUPIED WITH LOCAL CONFLICTS
In addition, the diplomat noted, the Latin Americans are preoccupied with various local conflicts such as the growing tension between Nicaragua and Honduras, Costa Rica and El Salvador, as well as political and social unrest at home.
“The Latin Americans have their own problems and the Middle East conflict is on the bottom of the list of priorities for them,” the diplomat said. But he emphasized that many of them have to pay “lip service” to the Arabs by denouncing Israel from time to time in order to gain Arab support in the UN.
The diplomat also said that apart from Cuba, Nicaragua and Grenada, “the nations of Latin America support Israel’s existence.” This was clearly manifested by the fact that apart from these three countries, the rest of the Latin American nations voted against the Iranian motion two weeks ago to suspend Israel from the General Assembly.
“The Latin American countries are very sensitive to the issue of acquisition of territory by force and therefore they expressed their opposition to the fact that Israel holds territories it captured in the 1967 Six-Day War,” the Israeli diplomat said. “But all of them, apart from Cuba, Nicaragua and Grenada supported ‘the right of Israel to exist’ but usually added their support for ‘the right of self-determination for the Palestinians’.
DECLINE OF THE PLO
Regarding the Palestine Liberation Organization, the diplomat said that its general decline in the UN was also seen in the attitude of the Latin Americans. “Last year many representatives from Latin America referred to the PLO as the ‘representative of the Palestinian people’. This year only Argentina retained this view,” the Israeli diplomat noted. “Argentina was also the only Latin American country, apart from the anti-Israeli three, to mention the annexation of the Golan Heights by Israel.”
While the Mideast issue is on the diplomatic back burners of Latin American countries at this time, “it is not certain that Israel will not be criticized by some of these countries” when debates on the Mideast and the issue of Palestine unfold in the General Assembly in the next few weeks, the diplomat concluded.
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