During the conflict, Brazil recalled its ambassador in Tel Aviv for consultations and regarded the escalation of violence between Israel and Palestine inacceptable.

After the ceasefire was communicated, the ministry went on to point out that Brazil’s ambassador in Israel, Henrique da Silveira Sardinha Pinto, is to return to Tel Aviv right after the consultations for which he was summoned are over.

Ebola Epidemic

In response to the request for international cooperation made by the World Health Organization, Brazil’s Health Ministry sent five supply kits to Sierra Leone in an attempt to bring the ebola epidemic under control. A single kit can keep 500 people served for three months.

Products total 48 items weighing 1.2 tons altogether, and include 30 types of medication,  among which antibiotics and anti-inflammatories, as well as 18 first-aid tools, like gloves and masks.

The Brazilian government started offering aid to countries facing an ebola outbreak in June, with the donation of four kits to Guinea. Five more kits are expected to be shipped to Liberia.

New OEI Secretary-General

The Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI) appointed Brazilian Paulo Speller as its secretary-general for 2015-2018. OEI is made up of 19 Latin-American nations, plus Spain, Portugal and Andorra.

Paulo Speller is a psychologist with a PhD in political science. He was the president of the University of International Integration of African-Brazilian Lusophony (UNILAB) from 2010 to 2013, and is currently Secretary for Superior Education at Brazil’s Ministry of Education.

Speller’s nomination as OEI Secretary-General was unanimously approved. He is to take the place of Spaniard Álvaro Marchesi, who has occupied the position for the last eight years. During the meeting, Mexico’s Education Secretary Emilio Chuayffet was named head of OEI’s board of directors for the same period. Mexico was chosen to host the next general assembly, slated for 2018.

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Expectations are for the population to contribute to the debate of the Palestinian cause, at a moment of turmoil in the region.

“We greatly hope that the forum should head towards justice in the Middle East and in international law. This will be an event in which the civil society will provide its contribution to the Palestinian cause,” stated Ibrahim Alzeben, ambassador of Palestine to Brazil.

The event should take place right after Gaza Strip, controlled by Islamic group Hamas, suffered several attacks by Israeli armed forces, resulting in over 160 dead Palestinians.

In the other Palestinian territory, the West Bank, control is in the hands of political party Fatah, led by the president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Mahmoud Abbas. During the Forum, Abbas will be in New York, in the United States, where, on the 29th, he will call for Palestine being granted the condition of “observer state” in the General Assembly of the United Nations (UN).

Thus, he will send to Porto Alegre a representative, Nabil Shaath, Foreign Relations Commissioner at Fatah. According to Emir Mourad, secretary general of the Arab Palestinian Federation of Brazil (Fepal), one of the organizers of the event, in his participation, Shaath “should discuss the international solidarity with the people of Palestine, the right to return [of refugees] and the self-determination, which is establishment of the Palestinian state.”

Representing the Brazilian government, according to forum’s secretariat, the participation of Gilberto Carvalho, head minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, and of Maria do Rosário Nunes, head minister of the Human Rights Secretariat, has been confirmed.

The first conference of the forum should take place on the 29th, under theme “Human Rights, International Law and prosecution of war criminals”.

On the 30th, there will be two conferences, “Strategies of struggle and solidarity – boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel as an example” and ” For a world without walls, siege, racist discrimination and patriarchy”. On December 1st, the last conferences will be “Palestinian Popular Resistance and the support of social movements” and “Self-determination and right of return”.

In the sidelines of the conference, there will be activities like seminars, presentations and the release of books promoted by Brazilian and Palestinian associations and by 40 countries in South America, the Middle East, the Americas, Africa and Asia. In all, there will be over 120 different activities promoted by the groups participating.

Ever since the establishment of the state of Israel, in 1947, the Palestinians have been calling for the establishment of the State of Palestine, with East Jerusalem as its capital, as well as the right to return of Palestinian refugees who were pushed out of their homes during the formation of the Jewish state and of the Six Day War, in 1967.

Currently, the Palestinians do not have their own state and live in the so-called occupied territories, in Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Brazil supports the creation of a Palestinian State in the scope of the UN. In December 2010, the government of Brazil recognized the state of Palestine, according to the frontiers established in 1967. In October this year, president Dilma Rousseff restated support during the Summit of South American-Arab Countries (Aspa), in Lima, Peru.

The World Social Forum Free Palestine has generated controversy and pressure from the Jewish community. Through note in which he comments on the recent conflict between Palestinians and Israelis, the Consul General of Israel in São Paulo,  Ilan Sztulman, referred to the event as an “attack” that encourages “resistance” and “terrorism.”

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In this environment, Lula’s aspiration to be the “prophet of dialogue,” as he was called days before by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, has proved at least futile.

While the Brazilian was packing for the trip of 5 days that will also take him to the occupied territories under the nominal control of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and finally to Jordan, an Israeli cabinet minister further to the right of the prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu did what in other circumstances would be unthinkable.

During the visit of the US Vice President, Joe Biden, he announced the construction of 1,600 houses in East Jerusalem, where Palestinians want to install the capital of their future country. It was a deliberate blow to the efforts of the Obama administration to revive peace negotiations in the region, frozen since December 2008.

Biden left Israel humiliated. In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was “insulted” and the principal adviser to the president, David Axelrod, spoke of “outrage”.

If Israel allows itself to offend to this point its largest and most powerful protector, not to give the Palestinians a contiguous and viable state sought by the international community, including the US, what difference Lula imagines he can make?

Yesterday, he said to be carrying, “since he was in the womb of my mother,” the “virus of peace.” The metaphorical microbe did not infect the Israelis. President Shimon Peres was strictly following protocol when he said in a speech to know that the Brazilian had a message of peace, and that “his contribution will be welcome.”

On the Israeli side it won’t be. First, because Lula’s idea “to hear more people,” as if the UN, the European Union, the United States and Russia weren’t enough, is anathema to a government that thinks that most countries tend to be pro-Palestinian and want to force Israel to make “unacceptable” concessions (as curbing settlements in the West Bank and dividing Jerusalem in two).

Second, because the “people” Lula is thinking about include none other than the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who preaches the eradication of Israel (next to this, the denial of the Holocaust is a mere detail).

According to special aide Marco Aurélio Garcia, Iran cannot be ignored because it has a “strong influence” on the issue. It is the opposite. The Islamic Republic is the one that cannot ignore the possible peace agreement it opposes because it would give legitimacy to the Jewish state.

Who really has strong influence on the issue, instead, is the Arab League, starting with Saudi Arabia. In 2002, the Saudis have succeeded in the entity’s approval of a peace plan whereby, in exchange for the return of territories taken in the Six Day War the relations between Israel and the Arab world would be “normalized.”

It didn’t do a thing. Recently, the League called for the resumption of indirect negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. (Seventeen years after the handshake between Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat at the White House people speak of indirect talks as if it were an improvement.)

Lula and the Itamaraty (Brazil’s Foreign Ministry) seem to also ignore that the approach of Brazil with Iran, whatever it’s worth, is unpopular not only in Israel, in the region. Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the two major Arab countries, don’t rejoice in it either.

Finally, the arrogance of the Lula diplomacy reaches the nonsense of supposing that the current “cynical and tough” US position towards Israel, in the words of Garcia, facilitates the entry of other actors, one of them being Brazil, in the Middle East’s peace process.

It is once again the world upside down. If Netanyahu does not give in to Obama, will he give in to whom? To Lula? The pharaonic dream of becoming the global statesman who will go down in history for having been successful there where all failed in the last 60 years leads Lula from futility to absurdity.

This is because Lula’s diplomacy, along party line and intent on getting votes, only seeks to promote the image of their guide before the domestic public.

Offering up to mediate not only the historical conflict between Jews and Palestinians, but also the internal conflict between the Palestinians of Hamas and Fatah, Lula shows the degree of exacerbation of his megalomania.

This is O Estado de S. Paulo’s editorial published in the paper’s March 16, 2010 edition.

Three aircraft with radars and high definition video cameras are scheduled to patrol from the air over the cities of Rio do Janeiro and Sao Paulo, as well as extensive areas of the border in the framework of the full fledged combat against drugs and organized crime, indicated on Monday Alessandro Moretti, a high ranking officer from the Federal Police stationed in Rio.

Moretti said there was no chance the unmanned aircraft could be shot down by the drug dealers, as happened last month. "Only with a war weapon such as land-air missile or cannon, could the traffickers shoot down the aircraft" said Moretti.

The three aircraft which will begin operating next month are manufactured by Israel's IAI defense industries complex. During the recent visit of Israeli president Shimon Peres, Brazil signed a contract for the purchase of 15 of these drones at a cost of US$ 200 million.

The Brazilian government and Rio do Janeiro authorities are running against time to ensure that the Cidade Maravilhosa "Wonderful City", which will host the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016, can be cleaned from organized crime and the drug cartels operating mostly in the favelas, where millions of Brazilians live, next to the rich and famous.

Mercopress

One of the main reasons of the Peres' trip to South America – he is visiting also Argentina – is to contain the growth of Iran's influence in the region and the tour happens just one week before the arrival of the Iranian leader in Brazil.

The Israeli president pointed out that "it is not enough to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in the region and all over the world to buy influence, places and people. That's why I don't believe the Iranian president has a future."

Peres then gave his counterpart some advice: "He needs to adopt a positive message for his people and for the world. He is a president who asks for the destruction of another country and denies the holocaust, even so there are hundreds and hundreds of survivors in Israel who have the Nazi number carved in their arms."

The Israeli leader charges the Iran government with destroying the Lebanon by backing Hezbollah, He also blamed Teheran for supplying guns to Hamas in Gaza, and for attempting to destroy the Palestine Authority government.

On the last day of a historical official visit to Brazil, the president of Israel, Shimon Peres, visited on Friday the headquarters of Brazilian state-controlled oil and gas multinational Petrobras in Rio de Janeiro, in the Southeast of Brazil.

Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad should be the next Middle East visitors to Brazil.

During his official visit to Brazil – the first by an Israeli president in 43 years – Peres obtained from Brazilian President Lula a declared willingness to contribute to negotiations in the Middle East.

This commitment was particularly significant since Brazil is also set to host in the coming days Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on November 20 and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on November 23.

"We need to talk more and to find more partners who want to help in peace-building in the Middle East. And we do not refuse to talk to anyone, as long as in that chat we can get a word, or at least a comma, that might help build peace," Lula said Wednesday, in a joint press conference with Peres.

"You know that there will be no peace without political concessions," he said, addressing Peres directly.

Rio was the last stage in Peres' official visit to Brazil. He remained in the country Saturday to observe the Shabbat before traveling to Argentina Sunday.

Alongside Petrobras president José Sérgio Gabrielli, Peres watched Friday a presentation on the company's business plan for 2009-2013.

This included plans for drilling in huge subsalt oil fields found very deep below the surface of the Atlantic in Brazil's waters, where Brazilian authorities have estimated reserves at 80 billion barrels of oil.

Peres arrived in Brazil Monday and met with Lula Wednesday in Brazilian capital Brasí­lia before visiting São Paulo, Brazil's main financial center, on Thursday.

Bzz/MP

His visit to Brazil will be just a few days ahead of that of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is due to arrive in Brazilian capital Brasí­lia on November 23.

Peres, who was invited by his peers from Argentina, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva heads a delegation of forty businessmen who will attempt to re-launch bilateral trade and boost bilateral investments.

"With this visit President Peres will try to strengthen and increase strategic, diplomatic and economic relations with these two Latin American countries of fundamental importance," said the Israeli presidential office in an official release.

Peres has visited Argentina and Brazil on several occasions in the different posts he has held in Israeli governments but this is his first as head of state. It is also the first time in forty years an Israeli president visits Brazil and twenty to Argentina.

According to the program, Peres begins his visit to Brazil on Tuesday until next Saturday and then Argentina from Sunday November 15 till Tuesday. He is scheduled to hold private meetings with Presidents Lula and Kirchner as well as with Foreign Affairs, Economy and Defense ministers plus leaders of Congress and the local Jewish communities.

"In the framework of these meetings President Peres will address Iranian infiltration in the continent," points out the release in direct reference to the close relations established by some Latin American countries, such as Venezuela and Bolivia, with the Teheran regime, which for Israel represents its main enemy.

Peres will emphasize the threat that Iran will pose to the world if it is permitted to continue with its nuclear program. Ahmadinejad's frequent calls for Israel's elimination will also factor in the discussions.

Argentina and Brazil boast the two largest Jewish communities in South America – about 300,000 and 16,000, respectively – and each will be addressed by Peres in the course of his visit.

A special memorial service will be held at the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in memory of the victims of the March 1992 bomb attack that was subsequently traced to Iran and Hezbollah. The blast, which destroyed the embassy, a nearby school and a Catholic Church, claimed 29 lives. In addition 242 people were wounded.

Two years later, in July 1994, a bomb detonated in front of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires took the lives of 85 people and wounded more than 300. The evidence again pointed to Iran and Hezbollah, but no one was convicted.

The visit to South America has been coordinated between Beit Hanassi, the Israel Export Institute, the Israel Manufacturers Association, the Jewish Agency, the governments of Brazil and Argentina and the Jewish Federations of those countries.

On his return to Israel, Peres will bring with him some 30 new immigrants from Brazil and Argentina.

Iranian president Ahmadinejad's visit at the end of November is aimed at discussing bilateral and international relations and cooperation between Teheran and Brasí­lia at international and regional levels, according to the Farsi News Agency. Originally the visit to Brazil had been scheduled for last May.

Mercopress

According to the head of the Middle East II Department at the Brazilian Foreign Office (Itamaraty), Roberto Abdalla, there is interest of both governments in exchanging ideas about the crisis and the reformulation of international financial institutions, as both countries are part of the G-20, the group of 20 main economies on the globe, developed and emerging, which is at the heart of the economic growth multilateral decision making process.

According to Abdalla, both nations are also in favor of change in the UN Security Council, with the creation of permanent seats for developing nations. Today the only permanent members are the United States, Great Britain, France, Russia and China. Saudi Arabia, however, did not clearly pledge support to Brazil's claim to one of these possible new seats.

With regard to the question of Palestine, Brazil has, for some years, been seeking greater participation as a mediator and supporter to the Arab Peace Initiative, a Saudi proposal for solution to the conflict that was adopted at the Arab Summit in Beirut, Lebanon, in 2002, forecasting the existence of an Israeli state and a Palestinian state, with frontiers as they were before the Six Day War, in 1967.

All the South American countries endorsed this plan at the 2nd Summit of South American-Arab Countries (Aspa), which took place on March 31st, in Doha, Qatar.

Another theme to be discussed with Saudi authorities and with the secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Abdulrahman Al-Attiyah, is the unbarring of negotiations for a free trade agreement between the Arab bloc and the Mercosur, the economic bloc that includes Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

The process began in 2005, at the 1st Aspa Summit, but jammed on Brazilian petrochemical industry resistance, as the sector fears competition with companies in the Gulf. "The president should give signs for the unbarring of the agreement," said Abdalla. The GCC includes Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Oman.

At the 2nd Aspa Summit, in Doha, both parties disclosed a statement saying they were engaged in making the process advance faster and seeking "creative solutions" to the impasse. According to Abdalla, one of the possible solutions could be leaving aside the question of petrochemicals and advancing in areas of simpler negotiation, and returning to the theme at a later date. "The negotiations for the agreement cannot stop for four years due to one point of disagreement," he said.

In the bilateral area, both governments should sign at least six agreements, among them an expanded review of the general agreement for technical cooperation originally signed in 1976, and others are in the areas of political consultation, cooperation between diplomatic academies, higher education, cultural cooperation and sports. The number of agreements and themes of interest, however, is not yet closed and may be expanded.

Lula should travel in the company of a trade delegation that, in the sidelines of the official meetings, should participate in business roundtables with Saudi businessmen and visit local institutions like Sagia, the investment promotion agency, and the Council of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Saudi Arabia, to promote a luncheon with the presence of the Brazilian president.

The president at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Salim Taufic Schahin, the Foreign Relations vice president at the organization, professor Helmi Nasr, and secretary general Michel Alaby should be included in the delegation.

Saudi Arabia is the main economic partner of Brazil in the Arab world. Brazilian exports to the country generated US$ 2.56 billion last year, an increase of 73.4% over 2007. The main items shipped were meats, ores, sugar, aircraft and partially manufactured iron and steel.

It is worth recalling that total imports of Saudi Arabia last year totaled US$ 191 billion and that the country is a great buyer of foods on the international market, as local production is not enough to supply the population of around 25 million inhabitants.

On the other lane, Brazilian imports of Saudi products totaled US$ 2.91 billion, growth of 70.4% over 2007. Oil and fuels answered to 93% of the basket, according to figures supplied by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade and compiled by the Arab Brazilian Chamber.

The Gross Domestic Product of Saudi Arabia was US$ 469 billion in 2008, according to estimates by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), an economic information service provided by British magazine The Economist. The country is the main global producer and exporter of oil in the world and has the largest reserves of the commodity, evaluated at about 25% of world reserves.

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According to the Brazilian foreign office (Itamaraty), medications include antibiotics, rehydration salts, syringes, bandages and other first-aid items.

Brazilian Foreign minister, Celso Amorim, should met in Portugal with the Portuguese prime minister, José Sócrates, and also held talks with the foreign minister of Syria, Walid al-Moualem, to discuss the measures that the international community can adopt in order to be able to negotiate a cease fire in the region.

On Sunday, Amorim had already spoken, on the telephone, with the Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, about the Brazilian proposal of holding a meeting with several countries so as to seek a solution for the conflict that started 11 days ago with Israeli attacks on the Palestinians.

China has also announced a donation of US$ 1 million for humanitarian aid to the region.

According to Portuguese news agency Lusa, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has warned that the crisis in Gaza is unbearable to the population, which, even prior to the Israeli military operation, lived under "extremely harsh conditions" after 18 months of bans and restrictions on imports.

After 11 days of bombings, Palestinian casualties are estimated to range from 580 to 600, and 3,000 are there already are wounded 3,000 wounded, according to figures supplied by hospital sources. The population of Gaza is 1.5 million.

"We are extremely worried about the growing number of dead civilians and the growing number of civil infrastructures, such as hospitals, that have been affected by Israeli military operations," said the director of Operations at the ICRC, Pierre Kraehenbuehl.

According to him, one of the priorities is to ensure medical assistance to the wounded, because many victims die while they wait for an ambulance to arrive. Even though access to the territory has been made easier, rescue vehicles are unable to reach the victims due to the intensity of combat.

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The project was developed by scholars at Harvard University and led by anthropologist and international negotiator William Ury. "The aim of the project is to promote friendship among people. It is not a religious or a political project, it is about respect," Ury said.

The anthropologist, who is currently in the southeastern Brazilian city of São Paulo to promote the plan, stated that the tourist route was inspired on the Way of St. James, in Spain, and that the idea is to attract thousands of tourists, as is the case with the European country. "We are not creating anything new. We are just renewing things, shaking the dust off the route," said Ury.

According to him, the vision of this initiative is to inspire and promote the creation of a route for tourism and pilgrimage retracing the steps of Prophet Abraham, who gave origin to the three major monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), which total 3.5 billion followers worldwide.

The route, which includes natural beauties and cultural interests, takes the tourists to holy places in Jerusalem, the Ummayad Mosque, in Damascus, the Church of the Nativity, in Bethlehem (Palestine), Urfa and Harrann, in Turkey, Damascus, in Syria, and Amman, in Jordan.

According to Ury, people will be able to follow the way on foot, by bus, car and even on camel back. "It is a trip for people of all age brackets and religions," he asserted. The distance from the city of Urfa, where Abraham was born, to the city of Hebron, in the West Bank, where Abraham's tomb is located, for example, totals 1,200 kilometers, the same distance as that of the Way of St. James.

According to Ury, part of Abraham's path has already been inaugurated, after four years of study. In November 2006, the first steps were taken, as a group of scholars from 10 different countries, including Brazil, traveled to the region. The trip began in Urfa, after which they headed to Syria, Jordan, Palestine and then Israel.

Since then, the project has been winning new followers and gaining the support of universities. Last month, a group of 20 students from the University of Yarmouk, in Jordan, took a two-week exchange program in a village in the city of Baoun, in the Arab country, in order to question local communities about the project and learn a little more about them.

Local communities in each region are also part of the project, because they are going to help trace the path along with their leaders. "This is the message of Abraham's Path: to show respect and hospitality toward your visitors," said Ury.

This week, another college group is going to do an exchange program in Palestine, in the city of Nablus, and there is another Brazilian on the team, from Getúlio Vargas Foundation.

"Brazilian contribution to the project is essential. In Brazil there is a very great spirit of fraternity and I hope that many Brazilians may follow this route, which is very beautiful and full of hospitality," added the anthropologist, who also recalled the great Arab community in Brazil.

In future, the route should be expanded to include other Arab countries, like Saudi Arabia and Egypt. "We are going step by step. It is a very great project and one for future generations," said Ury, who wants to organize a group of Brazilians to participate in the project this year.

According to him, each country should have one organization responsible for the project. In Syria, for example, the project has the support of the Ministry of Tourism, and in the project will be included a visit to the only two cities in the world that still speak Aramaic, Maloola and Sydnaia.

In Brazil, one of the directors of the project is businessman Salim Schahin, who is the Foreign Trade vice president at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce. "William is the father of this great project that arose to bring us closer together and take more prosperity to the Middle East," stated Schahin.

July 1st there was a ceremony honoring the anthropologist in São Paulo. Ury also participated in the ceremony closing the First Inter-Religious Course of the Route of Abraham.

Service

Abraham Path
Site: www.abrahampath.org

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Last Friday, September 21, a group of 35 Palestinians who lived in the Jordanian desert arrived in Brazil. Now, they will live in the states of São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul.

The meeting that Lula and the Brazilian minister of Foreign Relations, Celso Amorim, had with Abbas was part of the agenda in the sidelines of the 62nd General Assembly of the United Nations.

According to the press office at the Brazilian foreign office (Itamaraty), Abbas stated that the gesture of Brazil, upon welcoming the refugees, shows the country's commitment with peace.

According to the press office, during the meeting, Abbas showed optimism regarding the advancement of the peace process in his country. The Palestinian president invited Lula to participate in the conference for peace in the Middle East, which should be held in Washington, United States, in November.

The conference, which was the subject of a meeting held on Sunday between the president of the United States, George W. Bush, and Mahmoud Abbas, is an initiative of the United States government. The United States, along with the European Union, UN, and Russia, is part of the mediating quartet for peace in the Middle East.

Bush said that the United States are going to work hard for the establishment of a democratic Palestinian state, one that lives in peace with its neighboring country, Israel.

According to the Itamaraty, Abbas stated, during the meeting with Lula, that it would be important for Brazil to participate in the conference as a regional leader. President Lula, according to the press office, has already answered affirmatively to the Palestinian leader.

Abbas also invited the president of Brazil to visit his country, Palestine. Lula has never been to the Palestine as a president, but Abbas has already visited him in Brazil.

Abbas participated in the Summit of Arab-South American Countries, held in May 2005 in Brazilian capital Brasí­lia, by initiative of president Lula. At the time, during a meeting of the two heads of state, Lula said that Brazil is willing to collaborate with the Arab country in the peace process for the region.

The two leaders have been building close ties during their administrations. Abbas sent his compliments to Lula when he was re-elected, and also praised his initiative of promoting the Summit of South American-Arab Countries.

In July this year, Mahmoud Abbas sent to Brasí­lia a representative of his administration, Musa Amer Odeh, to ask for help and advice from president Lula in order to establish peace in his country.

Brazil also sent observers to the elections that took place in the Palestine in January 2005, when president Mahmoud Abbas was elected, and in January last year, to the election of the local parliament.

Palestine is a member of the League of Arab States and the seat of the government is in Ramallah. The country is facing difficulties in developing its economy due to the local conflicts, but the main productive activities are agriculture, food industry, shoes, ore export and the furniture sector.

Last year the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Palestine reached US$ 4.7 billion.

Anba – www.anba.com.br