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Arab League severs ties with Guatemala over embassy move to Jerusalem

The Arab League lashed out at Guatemala on Wednesday, saying it will no longer engage in relations with the country because of the decision to move its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) meets with Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales in Jerusalem, Nov. 29, 2016, on the 69th anniversary of Guatemala’s key role in the diplomatic events that laid the foundation for the state of Israel’s creation. Credit: Marc Israel Sellem/POOL/Flash90.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) meets with Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales in Jerusalem, Nov. 29, 2016, on the 69th anniversary of Guatemala’s key role in the diplomatic events that laid the foundation for the state of Israel’s creation. Credit: Marc Israel Sellem/POOL/Flash90.

The Arab League lashed out at Guatemala on Wednesday, saying it will no longer engage in relations with the country because of the decision to move its Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

“In accordance with the guidelines of Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the organization’s Secretariat revoked the Memorandum of Understanding with the Guatemalan Foreign Ministry, signed in 2013, and informed the Guatemalan side that cooperation in all fields would be suspended due to the country’s stance on the Jerusalem issue,” a statement issued by the organization stated.

In a document issue by the body on May 18, the body said it would place new emphasis on “developing a comprehensive action plan that includes measures that can be used to counter the decision of the United States or any other state to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel or to move the embassy to this city.”

In 1956, Guatemala became the first country to house its embassy in Jerusalem. It moved the facility to Tel Aviv 24 years later, when the Israeli parliament declared Jerusalem its eternal and indivisible capital.

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