Palestinians slam Brazil for opening J’lem trade office

By Abdelraouf Arnaout and Nour Abu Aisha

JERUSALEM (AA) – Both the Ramallah-based Palestinian government and Gaza-based resistance faction Hamas on Monday condemned Brazil's decision to open a diplomatic trade office in Jerusalem.

Adnan al-Husseini, minister of Jerusalem affairs for the Palestinian government, described the move as “a flagrant breach of international [UN] resolutions and a violation of the rights of the Palestinian people and their eternal capital [Jerusalem]”.

Al-Husseini also decried a visit by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to Jerusalem’s Al-Buraq Wall (known by Jews as the “Western Wall”), accusing Brazil of “accepting Israel’s illicit attempts to take over [occupied] East Jerusalem”.

On Sunday, Bolsonaro arrived in Tel Aviv for a four-day visit. On Monday, he visited the Al-Buraq Wall, located in East Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque complex, accompanied by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Hamas likewise decried Brazil’s decision to open a representative office in the flashpoint city, which, it asserted, “violates international laws and customs regarding Jerusalem”.

Bolsonaro’s tour with Netanyahu, the group added, “is seen as a recognition of the legitimacy of the [Israeli] occupation”.

A leader of Brazil’s Social Liberal Party, Bolsonaro won presidential elections last October. Not long afterward, Bolsonaro announced plans to relocate Brazil’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.