After the failure of repeated attempts by the Israeli embassy in El-Salvador to prevent the inauguration of a statue of the late Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat, Israeli decided to delay the return of its ambassador, Jonathan Peled.
The statue was placed last week in honor of Arafat in the center of the capital San Salvador.
Officials of the Israeli embassy in El-Salvador said that the memorial “has placed a strain on the usually friendly diplomatic ties between the two countries”, and added that this statue “represents a man who symbolizes terror”, and requested to prevent the inauguration.
The government of El-Salvador said that the municipality which placed the statue has no authority to make such a decision “but nothing was done to prevent it”.
Yossi Livne, the Israeli Foreign Ministry representative for Central American affairs, charged that “Arafat has a negative legacy regarding the peace process”, and claimed that “no one in the world would consider immortalizing his memory”.
Livne added that this act contradicts the friendly ties between el- Salvador and Israel.
Last year, a square named Palestine was established at the same site, a map of Palestine was placed in the square, Israel demanded the removal of the map since it holds the name of Palestine.
Livne said that Israel hopes that the El- Salvador government “will take the necessary steps to fix the situation”.
