Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said today that the Palestinians will ask the United Nations Security Council in January to recognize an independent Palestinian state. Three Latin American countries—Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia—have already recognized an independent Palestinian state. Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is traveling to Brazil today to lay the symbolic foundation stone of a Palestinian embassy in Brasilia. On Saturday, Abbas is due to attend the inauguration of Brazil’s new president, Dilma Rousseff.