Guatemala is to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem,
President Jimmy Morales said Sunday, following United States (US)
President Donald Trump's controversial lead on the holy city.
After
speaking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Morales wrote
to Guatemalans on his Facebook page that “one of the most important
topics was the return of Guatemala's embassy to Jerusalem,” from Tel
Aviv where it is currently located.
“For this reason I
am informing you that I have given instructions to the foreign ministry
that it start the necessary respective coordination to make this
happen,” Morales wrote.
Israeli Foreign Ministry Spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon thanked Guatemala for the “important decision.”
“Wonderful news and true friendship!” he wrote on Twitter.
Guatemala's
leader made the announcement on Christmas Eve, three days after
two-thirds of United Nations member states rejected Trump's decision to
have the US recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
In
all, 128 nations voted to maintain the international consensus that
Jerusalem's status can only be decided through peace negotiations
between Israelis and Palestinians.
Only eight countries
stood with the US in voting no to the resolution held in the UN General
Assembly, among them Guatemala and fellow Central American country
Honduras.
Guatemala and Honduras are both reliant on US funding to improve security in their gang-ridden territories.
The two nations are, along with El Salvador, in what is known as the Northern Triangle of Central America.
Violence,
corruption and poverty have made them the main source of illegal
migration to the United States, which is giving them $750 million to
provide better conditions at home.
Morales, like Trump,
was a television entertainer with no real political experience before
becoming president of Guatemala in 2016.
Guatemala is 'pro-Israeli'
On Friday, Morales foreshadowed the decision he was to make
regarding Jerusalem, as he defended his government's vote at the UN
backing the US.
“Guatemala is historically pro-Israeli,”
he told a news conference in Guatemala City. “In 70 years of relations,
Israel has been our ally,” he said.
“We have a
Christian way of thinking that, as well as the politics of it, has us
believing that Israel is our ally and we must support it. Despite us
only being nine in the world (in the UN vote), we have the total
certainty and conviction that this is the right path.”
Morales's
position has become fragile in recent months because of allegations of
corruption against him being investigated by a special UN-backed body
working with Guatemalan prosecutors.
The US ambassador
to the UN, Nikki Haley, had said her country would “take names” of the
states opposing its position, and Trump threatened to cut funding to
countries “that take our money and then vote against us.”
Several significant US allies abstained from the UN vote, among them Australia, Canada, Mexico and Poland.
Others,
such as Britain, France, Germany and South Korea were in the majority
of 128 nations denouncing any unilateral decision to view Jerusalem as
Israel's capital.
The eight countries on the US side of
the vote were: Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, the Marshall Islands,
Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Togo.
Following the US
decision on Jerusalem, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said he would
“no longer accept” any peace plan proposed by the US, dealing a
pre-emptive blow to a new initiative expected by Washington next year.
Trump
has tasked his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who had no prior experience in
government, with spearheading the complicated peace plan efforts.