Israeli-Costa Rican Relations Turn Frosty

In two short years, Israel's relationship with Costa Rica has gone from friendly to frosty. Following the announcement on February 5 that Costa Rica would establish diplomatic relations with what it called "the state of Palestine," Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday postponed a meeting between the Jewish state's ambassador and the president of the small Central American country. The deterioration of relations between the two countries started more than two years ago, when Costa Rica moved its embassy in Israel to Tel Aviv from Jerusalem. Until 2006, Costa Rica had been one of two countries with embassies in Jerusalem, the other being El Salvador. The status of Jerusalem, according to the United Nations, is unresolved after Israel won the West Bank in the 1967 Six-Day War.

A spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Arye Mekel, said yesterday, "We would like to express our disappointment over this regretful decision of the government of Costa Rica to establish full diplomatic relations with the 'state of Palestine.'"

In a letter to Costa Rica's foreign minister, Bruno Ugarte, the national chairman and the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Glen Lewy and Abraham Foxman, respectively, expressed their concern. "This is a step taken only by a handful of countries in the world and is out of step with the international community's policy with regards to this subject," they wrote.