Chile has decided to recognize a Palestinian state, becoming the sixth Latin American country in recent weeks to do so.
"The government of Chile has adopted the resolution today recognizing the existence of the state of Palestine as a free, independent and sovereign state," Chilean Foreign Minister Alfredo Moreno said.
The statement did not say anything about the future Palestinian state's boundaries, which the other Latin American countries specified as being "within the 1967 borders."
Israel called Chile's recognition "useless" and said it will not help advance peace.
"It is a useless and empty gesture because it will not change anything," a senior Israeli official told AFP.
"It will not advance the cause of peace by an inch," said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
He noted, however, that Chile did not mention the thorny issue of the borders of the Palestinian state and called for a resumption of Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.
"Santiago has shown realism and a sense of responsibility by expressing positions which are very close to ours."
The Palestinian community in Chile is known to be the largest outside of the Middle East with around 300,000 Chileans being of Palestinian origin. The government of President Sebastian Pinera had been under growing pressure from this community.
Last month, a Chilean senator, Eugenio Tuma, who is of Palestinian descent, charged that prominent Jews, including the country's Interior Minister, were “agents of the Israeli government.”
Tuma also said that Chilean Jews were responsible for holding back the country's recognition of a Palestinian state.
Before Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Ecuador recognized a Palestinian state in December.
Paraguay and Peru are said to offer recognition soon.
EU to recognize Palestinian state in September 2011?
On Sunday, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said the Palestinian leadership was working to convince Mexico and several Latin and Central American nations to recognize the Palestinian state.
"Until September, we will work to secure as much recognition as we can," he said.
"The majority of the international community will recognize an independent Palestinian state" by September 2011, Malki told a group of Palestinian journalists in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Malki said the European Union had already expressed its intention to recognize a Palestinian state by September, which would mark one year since the restart of direct peace talks.
"The Spanish Foreign Minister (Trinidad Jimenez) told me that the European Union will recognize a Palestinian state at the beginning of September," Malki said, without specifying when the conversation occurred.
"And if the European Union doesn't take this decision then Spain will be the first European country to announce its recognition of the Palestinian state, and we're optimistic," he added.
Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians began September 2 in Washington, ending nearly two years without direct negotiations.
But the talks ground to a halt just weeks later, with the expiry of an Israeli moratorum on building in the West Bank.
Washington has called on both sides to engage in indirect, US-mediated talks, and Palestinian and Israeli negotiators were expected in the United States this week.