Bolivia recognizes Palestine

Bolivia became the third country in recent weeks to recognize a state of Palestine.

“Bolivia recognizes the Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, like Brazil and Argentina,” the Palestinian Ma’an news agency reported Bolivian President Evo Morales as saying last Friday during a visit to Brazil.

Uruguay is expected to follow suit early next month.

Israel, the United States and Jewish groups have attempted to push back against a Palestinian Authority initiative to win recognition of Palestinian statehood in Latin America and Europe, the two major regions that until now have resisted recognizing the provisional statehood declared in 1988.

The Palestinian Authority is pressing for recognition partly as leverage against Israel’s refusal to freeze settlement building.

Palestinians walked away from direct talks in October because Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refused to extend a 10-month partial freeze on such building.