Ros-Lehtinen Asks Latin American Governments to Reconsider Support for Palestinian Statehood Scheme

Statement

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, released the following statement today on the broad support from many nations in Latin America for the unilateral Palestinian statehood scheme at the United Nations:

"It is disappointing to see some Latin American governments supporting the Palestinian leadership's dangerous statehood scheme at the UN. Free, democratic nations in the Hemisphere should not be siding with a Palestinian leadership aligned with Hamas, a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, and against democratic Israel.

"This Palestinian scheme takes us further away from peace and security and is supported by enemies of democracy and human rights, like the Castro brothers, Chavez, Ortega, Correa, and Morales. Responsible nations must not join this chorus. Instead, they should oppose this effort and demand that the Palestinian leadership -- immediately, unconditionally, and without further concessions -- return to direct peace negotiations with Israel.

"Real peace and security between Israel and the Palestinians can only come through direct negotiations between the two parties, and responsible nations should be pressuring Palestinians to come back to the negotiating table, not bypass it. I encourage all responsible Latin American leaders to oppose this anti-peace scheme and stand with democracies like the U.S. and Israel, not anti-freedom autocrats."

Source