Guatemala Will Move Its Israel Embassy to Jerusalem, Following Trump’s Lead
December 25, 2017 by admin
Filed under Latest Lingerie News
The consensus of international law is that Jerusalem’s status is unresolved, that claims of sovereignty by Israel are invalid and that the issue must be settled in negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
Mr. Trump insisted that he was merely recognizing reality and not prejudging negotiations on the future borders of the city, but Palestinians saw the move as siding with Israel on the most delicate issue in the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
Last week, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution condemning Mr. Trump’s decision by a vote of 128 to 9, with 35 countries abstaining and 21 countries absent.
Mr. Trump had threatened to cut off aid to countries that did not take the side of the United States, but he has not yet done so, and experts say it would be difficult to do. Many Muslim-majority countries that voted for the resolution, like Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, are strategic partners of the United States in the region.
Guatemala was one of seven countries to join the United States and Israel in voting against the resolution, along with Honduras, Togo, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia — mostly tiny countries heavily dependent on American aid.
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Guatemala was one of the first nations to recognize the state of Israel upon its establishment in 1948.
Mr. Morales’s decision was immediately seen as an effort to curry favor with Mr. Trump and, perhaps, to distract attention from his political problems at home. His brother and his son are under investigation by an anticorruption commission that has been strongly backed by the United States and the United Nations.
Mr. Morales has clashed with the commission and even tried to expel its chief in August before he was stopped by the country’s highest court.
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The commission relies on a close relationship with Guatemala’s attorney general to pursue its cases. Washington will be watching to see whether a new attorney general, to be appointed next year when the term of Attorney General Thelma Aldana expires, will prove as committed to collaborating with the commission, known by its Spanish initials as the Cicig.
Winning the favor of the Trump administration could prove helpful to Mr. Morales if the new attorney general he selects proves less cooperative with the commission.
Guatemala is also awaiting the approval of aid under an Obama administration initiative set up to stem Central American migration to the United States.
Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its capital, while the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel in 1967 and is home to sites important to Jews, Muslims and Christians. Under multiple Security Council decisions, East Jerusalem and the West Bank are considered occupied territory.
Mr. Trump’s announcement set off weeks of clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli security forces that have left 12 Palestinians dead.
Correction: December 25, 2017
Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article misstated Benjamin Netanyahu’s title. He is Israel’s prime minister, not president.
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