Guatemala to move embassy to Jerusalem

GUATEMALA CITY – Guatemala is to move its embassy to Jerusalem, President Jimmy Morales announced on Sunday, following in the controversial footsteps of U.S. President Donald Trump.

In a statement on Facebook, Morales said he had instructed Foreign Minister Sandra Jovel to initiate the move and had informed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the decision.

The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution on Thursday asking the U.S. to reverse its recent decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Only nine countries voted against the move, while 128 countries were in favor.

Morales on Friday defended Guatemala’s decision to support the U.S., saying, “Although there were only nine of us in the whole world, we are completely certain and convinced that this is the correct route.”

On Sunday, he said Israel and Guatemala had had “excellent relations” since the Jewish state was founded.

Honduras, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Togo also sided with the U.S. and Israel in Thursday’s U.N. vote, while 35 countries abstained.

Some of the United States’ key allies, including Britain, France and Japan, were among those who ignored threats from the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, to vote in favor of the resolution.

Haley had said Washington would cut funding to those who voted against it and the “U.S. will be taking names.”

The status of Jerusalem has been one of the most sensitive and explosive issues in the decades-long conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Israel has long claimed Jerusalem as its “undivided capital,” while the Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state.

Israel occupied the eastern half of Jerusalem in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and later annexed the territory in a move that was not internationally recognized.

More than 300,000 Palestinians live in East Jerusalem, which is home to holy sites for Jews, Muslims and Christians.