(JTA) — El Salvador established diplomatic ties with the Palestinian Authority during a visit there by a Palestinian minister who praised Latin America for its “very strong and clear” support.
Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad Malki was scheduled Friday to sign the agreement with his Salvadoran counterpart, Hugo Martinez, establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries, the Prensa Latina news agency reported.
Maliki, who arrived in El Salvador on Thursday, was also scheduled to meet with officials in Honduras to sign a diplomatic agreement, Israel Radio reported.
In 2011, the Palestine Liberation Organization launched a major international push for statehood recognition over the objections of the United States and Israel.The push has scored success in South and Central America.
During a reception Thursday hosted by the Palestinian Association in El Salvador, Maliki said that Latin America and the Caribbean have expressed “very strong and clear solidarity with Palestine and the justice of its cause.”
Maliki said that in the region, only the government of Panama has not recognized or established diplomatic ties with Palestine.
El Salvador’s deputy foreign minister, Carlos Castaneda, and officials from the embassies of Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela also attended the reception. El Salvador moved its embassy from Jerusalem to the Tel Aviv area in 2009. It was the last of a handful of nations to maintain an embassy in Jerusalem.
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