Abbas prods Brazil to help end Iran support for Hamas
Luis Inacio Lula da Silva calls for Israeli settlement freeze, says UN should coordinate peace talks.
By Haaretz Service and News Agencies Tags: Goldstone report Shimon Peres Israel newsPalestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas wants Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to convince Iran to put an end to its support for the radical Palestinian movement Hamas.
"Iran supports Hamas with money. Hamas' decisions are in the hands of Tehran," Abbas said Friday in an interview with the Brazilian daily Folha de Sao Paulo.
Abbas' remarks were clearly aimed at Lula's next Middle East visitor on Monday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"I hope [Lula] can tell [Ahmadinejad] a few things about everything that is happening in the Middle East. I think the president will," Abbas was quoted as saying.
For Abbas, problems among Palestinians are "a pretext that helps reinforce Israel's argument that they do not know who their partners are" on the Palestinian side when it comes to talks.
"I do not think that the Israelis have caused [division among Palestinians], but they encourage it and keep it up for their own benefit," he explained.
Abbas said he would like Brazil - which also hosted Israeli President Shimon Peres last week - to get involved in talks for peace in the Middle East.
"We believe that Brazil should play a role in the peace process, and we will ask it to take the opportunity to take on the role. I know [Brazil] is respected by the Israelis and the Arabs, and by the Palestinians in particular," Abbas said.
"Brazil, as an important country, and President Lula, as a respected leader, can play an important role. There are many ways of taking action for peace," he added.
Silva on Friday joined his Palestinian counterpart in calling on Israel to stop building new settlements in areas claimed by Palestinians.
Silva said the expansion of Israeli settlements should be frozen and Palestinian borders of the future guaranteed.
Silva spoke after a meeting with Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas, who also plans to visit Argentina and Chile.
Silva also recently told two local radio stations that the United Nations should coordinate Middle East negotiations - not the U.S., which he said is one of those responsible for the crisis.
President Shimon Peres made an official visit to Brazil earlier this week, where he called Richard Goldstone, who authored the United Nations report accusing Israel of perpetrating war crimes in its Gaza offensive earlier the year, a man devoid of any real sense of justice who is intent on harming Israel.
"Goldstone is a small man, devoid of any sense of justice, a technocrat with no real understanding of jurisprudence," Peres told his Brazilian counterpart, adding that the South African jurist "was on a one-sided mission to hurt Israel."
Peres also urged Syrian President Assad to engage in direct peace talks with Israel without delay.
"I am calling on President Assad to join us in direct and immediate negotiations, without mediators, without conditions, without postponements," Peres said in an address to Brazil's parliament.
Regarding the Palestinian track, Peres told legislators that Israel recognizes the Palestinians' right to an independent state and is prepared to make painful concessions to make that happen.
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Not only Nazis scaped to Brazil but to the US too. In fact a prominent Nazi was the guy who spurred the American Space effort ( Von Braun). In tha case of Brazil It received my Grandmother and her children, my mom was born here, after she lost everything in Europe fro being a jew... what a horrible country Brazil for homing us, when Europe wanted our ashes...
its always someone elses fault and must always involve other parties to find a solution. its about time Palestinian leadership does what it it supposed to do..solve their own problems! Palestinians who put up with this nonsense deserve its consequences. on the other hand, this is what keeps the elite in power.
Naturally the Pals expect everybody to dance to their tune. da Silva may not want to talk this way to Iran, but if Iran continues to support Hamas, the PLO will accuse him of injustice and a diplomatic failure just as they did to Obama. So that Brazil will be the cause of another Intifada
Von Braun, an American hero, was a nazi and he used jewish inmates to produce rockets. And many prisoners were hanged in that place. Brazil is 387 times bigger than Israel so was't a difficult task 60 years ago a person to live hidden here.
President Lula is a moderate guy. In Brazil Jews live in Peace. We have a Jew as State Governor of Bahia. He's Lula's friend and they belong to the same Party. They fought the Military Government. Another Jew is Minister Of Environment. So, Lula has all the predicates to be a fair moderator to this conflict that we brazilians would like to see finished. Peace Now!
...the United Nations is skewed.
Steve, I think you got it wrong. The South American Country that hosted nazi war criminals was Argentina. It might be difficult for some to tell the difference but I'm confident that you, as a capable person, will eventually understand.
I would be more concerned about Brazil's indigenous Amazon Natives in the disappearing Amazon whose lives and rights for many years have gone unnoticed by the sanctimonious HRC & world community.
Wasn't Brazil one of the South American countries that helped escaped Nazi war criminals after World War II? Israel should insist on a thorough investigation of Brazil's involvement in shielding these murderers before considering any advice offered by the Brazilian President.