Itamaraty faces “game of pushing” to get Brazilians out of Gaza

In contacts with Brazilian diplomacy in the last few hours, the governments of Egypt and Israel sought to exempt themselves from responsibility for the absence of Brazilians on the lists of citizens removed from the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian authorities adopt the same stance. With one throwing the problem into the other’s lap, Itamaraty’s efforts to release the 34 Brazilians and their families trapped in Gaza are increasingly challenging.

In practice, according to reports made to CNN the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) is still unclear as to what the biggest obstacle has been for Brazilians to leave through the Rafah crossing.

In dialogue with the Egyptians, Itamaraty was informed that the lists of citizens to be removed from Gaza go through a “fine-toothed comb” by Israel. In this version, the Israelis would be disregarding the inclusion of Brazilians in the first teams, for supposedly political reasons.

Still according to this version, although the border is between Gaza and Egypt, control of the lists would be carried out by Israel to prevent Hamas members from escaping Palestinian territory.

It is important to always remember that, in practice, Israeli military forces have the ability to bomb the vicinity of Rafah and prevent its use at the crossing. Hence, then, the effective power to release who can or cannot pass.

The point is that this information is forcefully denied by the authorities in Jerusalem. Brazilian diplomats received from senior officials at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this Thursday (2), the guarantee that there is absolutely no discrimination against Brazilians and that they have no interference in the preparation of the lists.

Signs of this: no citizen of the United States, Germany or United Kingdom — countries that have excellent dialogue with Israel — was on the first list. Neither are nationals from Latin America or Africa.

Among those released were a Jordanian and some Indonesians. Detail: Jordan recalled its ambassador to Tel Aviv, in protest over the bombings in Gaza, and Indonesia does not even maintain diplomatic relations with Israel.

This would be evidence, in the assessment of Brazilian diplomats, that there would be no Israeli political reluctance or “revenge” for the positions defended by Brazil, for example, in the UN Security Council.

According to information transmitted by Israel to Itamaraty, the creation of the lists would be the responsibility of Egypt and the Palestinian authorities in Gaza.

Official statements

The Palestinian ambassador to Brazil, Ibrahim Alzeben, attributed responsibility for the absence of Brazilians in the lists released so far to Israel. “There are no Brazilians, as well as other nationalities, for political reasons. It’s not about logistics. Israel did not authorize it,” Alzeben told CNN.

The Israeli ambassador to Brazil, Daniel Zonshine, said he hoped that Brazilians would be able to leave Gaza “soon”. “I don’t know what the exit criteria are, but I can guarantee that there is no intention from Israel to leave them there. We have no interest or desire to keep them [em Gaza],” Zonshine told CNN. CNN was unable to contact Egyptian diplomats in Brazil. The space is open.

See also – Without a “concrete forecast”, the government is still trying to remove Brazilians from the Gaza Strip

Source: CNN Brasil

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