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News > Palestine

Palestine to Sue Honduras for 'Recognizing' Jerusalem as Israeli Capital

  • Israel considers the whole city as its capital while Palestine sees its eastern part as the capital of its future state.

    Israel considers the whole city as its capital while Palestine sees its eastern part as the capital of its future state. | Photo: Reuters

Published 29 August 2019
Opinion

Palestinian Authority said the Honduran declaration is a “direct aggression" against the Palestinian people.

Palestinian Foreign Ministry Riyad al-Maliki announced the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) will submit a formal complaint to the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres against Honduras, over the latter’s decision to open a diplomatic office in Jerusalem.

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The Central American country has described its move as a recognition of the disputed city as Israel’s capital.

Palestinian Authority called the Honduran declaration, a “direct aggression" against the Palestinian people and a “blatant violation of international law and legitimacy.”

“Honduras has aligned itself with rogue states that disregard international law and willfully undermine its standing," said Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, in a Thursday statement. She added the Palestinian leadership will "reassess its relationship" with Honduras.

"The status of Jerusalem as an occupied city is endorsed by the vast majority of states, in line with their standing legal and moral obligations to uphold international law," Ashrawi added.

Earlier this week Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez said he will travel to Jerusalem to inaugurate a “diplomatic office” in the city on Sept. 1. The office will be an extension of the existing Honduran embassy ​​​​​​located ​in Tel Aviv, said the government.

After Donald Trump’s decision to “recognize” Jerusalem as Israel’s capital back in 2018,  the U.N. General Assembly issued a resolution condemning the act. Yet Honduras was one of only eight countries that went along with Trump, following the lead of Guatemala, Israel, the Marshall Islands and several smaller Pacific island nations.

Other international leaders have expressed their intention to do the same as the U.S., such as Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

The move goes against the large majority of the international community that considers Jerusalem to be a contested area that should be the shared capital of both Israel and Palestine, with Israel West Jerusalem and East Jerusalem as future Palestine’s capital.

The recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital has been a major policy push of the Benjamin Netanyahu administration, putting pressure on smaller, economically unstable countries by threatening to deny economic cooperation.

Israel annexed Jerusalem in 1967, which has not been accepted internationally as legal.

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