From Arafat to Abbas: How Brazil's Lula kept his ‘dream’ of a free Palestine

In March 2010, during his first stint as Brazil's top elected official, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva toured Israel and Palestine in what was then described as a historic visit.

At the Israeli Parliament, Brazil's leader had underscored how Israeli settlements, illegal under international law, were damaging the peace process. In his speech, while calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state, he pushed for "negotiations and to overcome mistrust."

Lula met with the Palestinian National Authority's President (PNA) Mahmoud Abbas and then-Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, famously saying, "I dream of an independent and free Palestine living in peace in the Middle East." He also laid a wreath on the tomb of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Lula later signed five bilateral agreements with the Palestinian government, covering agriculture, education, sports, health and tourism sectors.

Fast forward to October 2023. Shortly after the latest conflagration broke out between Hamas and Israel, Lula had called for an immediate ceasefire and insisted that "innocent people of Gaza must not pay the price for the insanity of those who want war".

Between then and now, Lula has stood by the Palestinian cause unwaveringly, an association analysts trace back to his time as a union leader and his political journey.

During the dictatorship, Lula was a union leader fighting for workers' rights in Sao Paulo and part of Brazil's push towards democratisation, says Sayid Marcos Tenorio, vice president of the Brazil-Palestine Institute (IBRASPAL) and author of 'Palestine: the myth of the promised land to the land of resistance.

In 1980, when Lula founded the Workers' Party (PT), it was something that was not only inspired by democratic socialism but sought to combat oppressive regimes, says political analyst Marina Pontes. With anti-colonial and anti-imperialist tenets, she describes Lula's approach towards Palestine as "a gesture of solidarity".

"From the 1980s, the party maintained formal relations with the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization), and Lula developed a personal relationship with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, meeting him as early as 1991," Pontes tells TRT World.

"One of the most urgent struggles"

Over the decades, Lula's embrace of the Palestinian cause was considered "one of the most urgent struggles" in the Global South, explains Guilherme Casaroes, professor at the Sao Paulo Business School of the Getulio Vargas Foundation.

It led to the deepening of ties between the PT and the PLO. In Latin America, he says, the PT and left-wing parties typically regard the Israel-Palestine question as a fight between the oppressed and oppressor.

"That strikes a chord with Latin American countries, who have been victims of European colonialism and American imperialism. But it is also important to mention that Brazil supported the Palestinian cause even during the long military dictatorship (1964-1985) and has consistently supported a two-state solution, a position that Lula also pushed forward as he became president in 2003," Casaroes tells TRT World.

After assuming office for the first time, Lula pushed to transform Brazil into an emerging power. Casaroes says the process resulted in greater engagement with the Middle East. Over his eight years in office, Lula's government offered to mediate in the Iranian nuclear crisis and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

During his time in office, Lula also questioned US hegemony and its influence on international institutions. "Palestine came to symbolise the inertia of organisations whose raison d'être was to deal with such conflict resolutions," Pontes says.

In what experts refer to as "equidistance" in conflicts, Lula's engagement was not different from Brazil's "even-handed" approach to past disputes, says Casaroes, but it was "more engaged and proactive".

However, Casaroes says Brazil's regional protagonism and diplomatic approach to Palestine was different compared to other left-wing governments in the region, like Venezuela and Bolivia, who were "more critical of Israel".

Historically, Brazil's diplomatic efforts for 50 years have sought a two-state solution that guarantees rapprochement and respect, says Andre Luiz Reis da Silva, Associate Professor of International Relations at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul.

Recognition of Palestine

"In (December) 2010, the Lula Government announced the recognition of the Palestinian State with the borders fixed on June 4, 1967, before the Six Day War," da Silva tells TRT World.

It coincided with a series of events that made the approach "more official and not just symbolic," says Pontes. They included donating land in Brasilia for the construction of the Palestinian embassy, appointing a Special Envoy, opening a Representative Office in Ramallah, three official visits - two by Brazil to the Middle East and one by PNA President Abbas to Brazil and the formation of the Summit of South American-Arab Countries Summit. Brazil also participated in the Conferences of Annapolis (2007), Paris (2008), and Sharm el Sheikh (2009) and made two donations of medical supplies and food.

Brazil's recognition of Palestine led to a ripple effect in the region, as neighbours Argentina, Bolivia, and Ecuador also recognised the Palestinian state. Chile, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Uruguay followed suit a year later.

Lula also carried the Palestinian cause to international forums. Tenorio remembers how, on eight occasions, Lula's speeches at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) included the defence of Palestine as a "free and sovereign national state" and condemned "Israel's crimes and violations against Palestinians".

However, under Jair Bolsonaro's far-right government from 2019-2022, Brazil pivoted "unconditionally" towards Israel due to an "internal conservative-religious alliance", explains Da Silva. It culminated in Bolsonaro's administration eventually opening a trade mission in Jerusalem in 2019.

In January 2023, Lula returned to the presidency after 13 years. Casaroes says the leftist leader faced a completely different scenario domestically and internationally. Brazil was no longer as globally prominent as before. Diplomacy and mediation, he says, were less popular, which "lie at the heart of Brazil's soft power".

Western pushback

This year, Lula has faced backlash from the West after allowing Iranian frigates to dock in Brazil's waters and for not providing arms to Ukraine amid the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict.

"Brazil's non-participation in war efforts has been interpreted as indirect support for the Russian president," says Pontes.

However, amid the West's military support towards Ukraine, she says the situation regarding Israel-Palestine is "reversed".

Pontes calls it a "double standard in the treatment of the Palestinian issue in relation to the Ukrainian one," particularly in the Global South, following some similarities to "the illegal occupation of territories by neighbouring powers".

Casaroes says the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has become integral to the polarisation in Brazil's domestic politics. Voices on the left are "extremely critical of Israel's occupation of Palestine", he says, and often refers to it as "apartheid, ethnic cleansing, or even genocide." They began to pressure Lula for "harsher condemnation of Israel's attacks on Gaza".

"Domestic pressure might explain why Lula has decided for the first time to label Israeli actions as a strategy of state terrorism and genocide in Gaza. Although it brings Lula closer to his supporters, it distances Brazil from the desired role of a mediator," Casaroes says.

According to Da Silva, Brazil also took action in the rotating presidency at the UN Security Council to approve a resolution to guarantee humanitarian protection for civilians.

"Brazilian diplomacy has sought positions of balance and dialogue, respecting our diplomatic traditions, but with a low capacity for influence and receiving criticism for its positions," he says.

On November 14, amid heavy Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, Brazil received 32 Palestinian refugees from the besieged enclave. It followed the onslaught on Gaza that has killed more than 15,000 Palestinians. An estimated 1,200 Israelis also died following Hamas' incursion into Israel.

At the Brasilia Air Base in the capital, where Lula received 22 Brazil nationals and 10 of their relatives, he accused Israel of "killing innocent people without any criteria" and said he had not seen such "brutal and inhumane violence against innocent people."

According to Da Silva, it "caused great strain on the bilateral relationship with Israel, although diplomatic channels were maintained."

Domestically, it also drew backlash from Brazil's Israeli Confederation (CONIB). The organisation that claims to represent 120,000 members of Brazil's Jewish community condemned Lula's "mistaken and dangerous" remarks. CONIB claimed Israel had made "visible and proven efforts to spare Palestinian civilians" and called for what it said was a balanced and calm response from authorities.

Despite such public pushback, Tenorio says, Brazil continues to have a strong and long-standing legacy of solidarity towards the Palestinian cause that has been publicly demonstrated and extends as far as prominent figures such as Lula.

"Brazilian parties, trade unions and popular movements firmly support the cause of Palestinian liberation. Lula was born and formed politically in this environment."