Development: On 10 October the Palestinian ambassador to Bogotá, Imad Nabil Jada’a, said that President Mahmoud Abbas “is not coming [to Colombia] to convince the Colombian president to change his position at the UN, but to jointly explore mechanisms through which Colombia can be a fundamental tool in negotiations with Israel”.
Significance: Colombia is expected to abstain in the UN Security Council (UNSC) vote on Palestine’s request to be recognised as a state by the intergovernmental organisation (IGO). However, Abbas hopes to change Santos’s position, albeit slightly, by convincing him that recognition does not imply an end to bilateral talks between Israel and Palestine and that both processes could happen concurrently. President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela also announced yesterday that after meeting Santos Abbas will travel to Caracas for an impromptu meeting with him. A joint Colombia-Venezuela mediation might make sense, since the former has very strong ties with the US and Israel, while the latter has good relations with ‘non-aligned countries’, such as Syria and Iran, and is a member of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec), which enables regular contact with other Arab nations.
Key points:
• Abbas echoed Jada’a’s statement at an official event, in which he received the keys to the city of Bogotá from the interim mayor, Clara López, saying: “President Santos has called for a two-state solution, with the 1967 borders, and some days ago he added that the continued construction of Israeli settlements doesn’t help peace [efforts]...Colombia wants to lead us to peace and urges both nations to reach an agreement to resume negotiations”.
• “We will go talk with President Santos like friends. Of course there are differences and we will try to resolve them. But we have always respected Colombia as a sovereign republic, owner of its own decisions. That is the true measure of relations between nations. We will continue being friends”, said Abbas to the local media.
• President Chávez announced Abbas’s visit to Venezuela on state TV yesterday evening. The agenda for the talks remains unknown.
