Exclusive: Palestinian Foreign Minister Speaks to teleSUR

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki spoke to teleSUR English Tuesday from the Venezuelan capital Caracas.

The Palestinian Foreign Minister arrived in Venezuela Monday for a two day ambassadors conference as part of a broader effort by the Palestinian Authority to boost links with Latin America.

On holding the regional ambassadors’ conference in Venezuela, the foreign minister pointed to the steady Venezuelan support to the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people.

“We [Palestinians] and Venezuela enjoy excellent relations. It [government] showed great interest in the Palestinian cause,” Maliki told teleSUR English's Rey Gomez. “Venezuela is a very principled country with a clear commitment to struggles around the world and particularly the Palestinian one. We always feel as if we are at home. It is an honor for us to have our first regional ambassadors meeting here in Caracas.”

When asked about the United States President Barack Obama's recent executive order labeling Venezuela a security threat to the U.S., the Palestinian diplomat declared Obama's move a “grave mistake.”

“There was a clear mistake committed when Obama singled out Venezuela in that case,” he said. “I think it is time that Obama reviewed his decision and tried to retract from a decision that is harming his country more than it is harming Venezuela.”

Maliki added that Venezuela was a place where many people and nations around the world could enjoy friendship and solidarity.

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As Palestinians continue to seek statehood globally, and after their latest attempt for statehood at the United Nations Security Council, Maliki expressed his lack of trust in the council and many of its member states while stressing that the presence of Valenzuela was a positive step that would put pressure on the council to change its decades-long Israeli-catering course toward the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

“Venezuela is a very principled country with a clear commitment to struggles around the world and particularly the Palestinian one.”

A frustrated Maliki said that more than 67 years after Nakba and 48 years after the occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, “to this moment we don't feel that the Security Council represent us or takes our cause seriously.”

“We don't put much hope or expectation what the security council. We after so many years believe that our best weapon is to defend ourselves and seek political and diplomatic dimensions,” he said.

Highlighting the recent efforts by his government to seek international recognition and joining several high-profile rights organizations such as the International Criminal Court, Maliki said that with the help of friends like Venezuela, the aim is to “to neutralize what Israel enjoys the most, their military superiority and capability, by facing them in international arenas. We can do that by knowing that we have the support of friends.”

When asked about the international solidarity with Palestinians demonstrated by the recent Human Rights Art festival that took place in Gaza days ago, Maliki concluded that the Palestinians were not only the people who resist and challenge the occupation, or fight the occupation, but also were those who embrace life and enjoy culture.

“We send a different message. But also inside us, we enjoy life, we enjoy culture, we enjoy music,” said Maliki. “We want to tell the world that we are equal. They have life and they enjoy life.”

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