ISLAMABAD, 16 OCT (DNA) — Eighteen countries, including Pakistan, on Friday strongly condemned the opening of the Colombian embassy in Jerusalem, stating that any move to recognise the city as Israel’s capital had no legal effect.
Colombia on Wednesday officially opened its embassy in Jerusalem, joining a small group of countries including the United States in taking the symbolic step of backing Israeli sovereignty in the contested city. The vast majority of countries keep their embassies to Israel in Tel Aviv on the grounds that the status of Jerusalem will be settled in a final resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In a joint statement shared by the Foreign Office (FO), the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Syria, Sudan and Turkiye said they “strongly condemn and express their unequivocal rejection of the inauguration by the Republic of Colombia of its embassy in Jerusalem”.
The statement said the development was in contravention of relevant United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions and undermined international efforts to achieve a “just and lasting peace based on the two-state solution”.
“The foreign ministers reaffirmed that any measure or decision intended to alter the legal or historical status of occupied Jerusalem, or to recognise it as Israel’s capital, is null and void and has no legal effect,” the joint statement said.
“This position is consistent with relevant UNSC and General Assembly resolutions, particularly Security Council resolutions 476 (1980) and 478 (1980), which reject attempts to change Jerusalem’s character or status and call on states to withdraw diplomatic missions from the city, which is part of the Palestinian territory occupied in 1967,” it added.— DNA
