Closer ties with Palestine

A Palestinian diplomatic delegation last week visited Central America, with the purpose of establishing diplomatic relations with El Salvador and Honduras, two nations which since 2011 have recognized Palestine as a State.

Last Thursday, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador and Palestine, respectively, Hugo Martinez and Riad Malki, met in San Salvador to formalize the diplomatic link, with the intention of furthering technical, economic and cultural cooperation between the two nations.

El Salvador, which has an embassy in Tel Aviv, also wants to help promote peace between Palestinians and Israelis.

The Palestinian delegation had mixed results in a subsequent visit to Tegucigalpa, where the new ties were described as "a stab in the heart" by Eliahu Lopez, the ambassador from Israel, a country with which Honduras has historically worked on issues of defense and security.