Mexico Has Fully Recognized the State of Palestine
In fealty to US foreign policy, Mexico has long refused to recognize Palestinian statehood. Last week, that finally changed, with AMLO’s government officially acknowledging Palestinian statehood and establishing a full embassy in Mexico City.
A member of the Palestine Solidarity Committee holds a Palestinian flag in a protest against US president Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in front of the US Embassy in Mexico City on December 15, 2017. (Pedro Pardo / AFP via Getty Images)
On June 2, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates announced that, as of the first of the month, it had reclassified its diplomatic mission in Mexico from special delegation to embassy. The ministry “expresses its firm conviction that this measure will contribute significantly to the . . . strengthening of relations between Mexico and the State of Palestine, on the basis of respect and mutual recognition, in benefit of our two peoples as well as international security and development,” it affirmed in a statement.
The announcement should have made headlines. Instead, it was received with a soft thud by both the Mexican and international press. As for the Mexican government, its only confirmation came by way of a hands-free upgrading of the delegation’s status to embassy on its official website — a curious, backdoor route for such a fundamental change in foreign policy.
From Leader to Footdragger
Mexico hasn’t always been quite so reticent. In 1975, it established diplomatic relations with the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO); Mexico’s then president Luis Echeverría met with Yasser Arafat in Egypt that same year. Two decades later, it elevated the PLO’s “information office” in Mexico City to the rank of special delegation. Diplomatic visits were exchanged, and a posthumous bust of Arafat was unveiled in the Azcapotzalco district of the city in 2010.
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