Arab League welcomes Paraguay’s moving embassy back out of Jerusalem

Official says Asunción’s decision has put country on the ‘right track’ and is in accordance with international resolutions

A picture from November 19, 2017, shows a general view of the Arab League headquarters during a meeting in the Egyptian capital Cairo. (AFP/Khaled Desouki)
A picture from November 19, 2017, shows a general view of the Arab League headquarters during a meeting in the Egyptian capital Cairo. (AFP/Khaled Desouki)

CAIRO — The Arab League has welcomed Paraguay’s decision to relocate its embassy from Jerusalem back to Tel Aviv.

Saeed Abu Ali, assistant to the league’s secretary-general for Palestinian affairs. told reporters Thursday the move serves as a model for other countries in the face of Israeli efforts and US pressure. He said it will also positively reflect on Arab-Paraguayan relations.

Abu Ali hailed Paraguay’s action as being on the “right track” and in accordance with international resolutions.

Paraguay had moved its embassy to Jerusalem in May after Guatemala and the US, infuriating Palestinians who seek Jerusalem as a future capital. But the country’s new government reversed the decision Wednesday in a surprise decision.

In response to the reversal, Israel angrily announced that it was closing its embassy in Paraguay and recalling ambassador Ze’ev Harel, saying Asunción’s decision cast a shadow over bilateral relations.

The Palestinian Authority said it would “immediately” open an embassy in Paraguay.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, signs the guestbook at Paraguay’s new embassy in Jerusalem as his wife Sara and Paraguay President Horacio Carter look on, May 21, 2018 (Courtesy)

“This courageous move by the Paraguay government is an example for all countries in facing Israeli greed and attempts by the American administration to impose it on the world when it moved its embassy to Jerusalem in the so-called deal of the century,” PA President Mahmoud Abbas said.

Paraguay’s decision came as a major blow to Netanyahu’s drive for international recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital; Paraguay was one of two countries to move its embassy following the US decision to recognize the city as Israel’s capital and move its own embassy in May.

The Israeli embassy in Asunción reopened two years ago, after it was shut in 2002 due to what the government said were budgetary constraints.

Up to 2012, Paraguay’s embassy was located in the Jerusalem suburb of Mevasseret Zion, until it was closed after Israel shut its mission in Asunción. In July 2013, president-elect Horacio Cartes announced the country would reopen its embassy in Israel, this time in Tel Aviv. Three years later, Israel reopened its Asunción mission.

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