BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – It may be long overdue, says lobby group Caribbean Against Apartheid in Palestine (CAAP). However, Barbados’ decision to officially recognize Palestine as a state is welcomed.
“It was a long time in coming, but we have at last reached the mountain top,” group secretary Lalu Hanuman said in a brief statement, adding that the locally based CAAP has been lobbying for the recognition of Palestine since its inception in 2014.
“Barbados cannot claim to be genuinely independent unless it has an independent foreign policy free from the dictates from London and Washington.”
Last Friday, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kerrie Symmonds disclosed that the Cabinet had “made the determination that the time is ripe for us to have a formal diplomatic recognition of the State of Palestine.” Symmonds noted that Barbados had formal talks with the State of Palestine in September last year, before the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip.
The minister stressed that Barbados has always maintained that there should be a two-state solution at the United Nations.
“Ironically, despite having told the world that we would like to see a two-state solution, Barbados itself has never recognized the State of Palestine. Therefore, there is an incongruity and inconsistency because how can we say we want a two-state solution if we do not recognize Palestine as a State?
“So, I have taken Cabinet the necessary paper to allow us to formally recognize, I think, an error that we have made through the years and to correct that. And now, we have formally reached out to the State of Palestine to signal our intention to recognize them as a state formally.”
Symmonds made it clear that the acknowledgment of Palestine as a state does not affect the relationship Barbados has with Israel, with which the island has had diplomatic ties since August 29, 1967.
and then . However, Barbados’ decision){kind=link}