Head of the international relations committee of the Joint List (Arab parliamentary bloc in the Knesset) Yousef Jabareen in an urgent message to Guatemala’s ambassador to Israel Sara Castaneda on Tuesday denounced Guatemala’s decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem.
Jabareen asked Castaneda to convey the Joint List’s request that Guatemala’s president Jimmy Morales backtrack on his decision.
The Guatemalan ambassador on Monday toured Jerusalem to look at properties in preparation for the transfer.
Jabareen described Guatemala’s move as a violation of international law and disregard for international understandings about the special status of Jerusalem.
He added that this decision which follows the lead of the US consolidates the Israeli colonization of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967 and kills any chances for peace.
The president of Guatemala Jimmy Morales announced his intention to move his country’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem during the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Guatemala was one of the few countries that supported the US president Donald Trump’s Jerusalem move which was opposed by the vast majority of the world countries.
