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| Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin. Photo by Wikimedia Commons |
Israel
denied this week a request by Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin
to visit Ramallah.
According to
a statement by the Foreign Ministry in Bogota, Israel would only permit Holguin
to visit Ramallah if she agreed to visit Jerusalem on the same visit to the
region. A senior official in the Israeli Foreign Ministry confirmed the matter,
stating that the directive was ordered by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.
It is highly
unusual for the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem to give such a directive, and it
appears that the move was made in an effort to harden its policy with regards
to visits by foreign ministers to the Palestinian Authority, which are normally
carried out without any difficulty.
Differences
of opinion over Holguin's visit to Ramallah led to a diplomatic incident that
caused tensions between Israel and Colombia, which is considered a central
Israeli ally in Latin America. Colombia is one of the last two countries in
Latin America that has not recognized Palestine as a state. The second country
is Panama, another of Israel's allies. Israel and Colombia have ties in
economic, diplomatic and security areas.
The saga
began on November 3, when Colombia's ambassador to Israel, Fernando Alzate
Donoso, asked the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem to arrange entry for Holguin
from Jordan to Ramallah via Israel. The Colombian ambassador stipulated that
Holguin was interested in meeting with her Palestinian counterpart, Riyad
al-Maliki, and possibly Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, too.
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