Pakistan and 18 Other Nations Condemn Colombia for Opening Embassy in Jerusalem

Colombia opened its embassy in Jerusalem on Wednesday, and by Friday the response had arrived in one voice. The foreign ministers of 19 Muslim-majority countries, Pakistan among them, condemned the inauguration as a breach of international law and a setback for the two-state solution.

Null and void, the ministers say

The joint statement was blunt about the legal position. Any step meant to change the legal or historical status of occupied Jerusalem, or to recognise it as Israel’s capital, is null and void and carries no legal effect. The ministers pointed to Security Council resolutions 476 and 478 from 1980, which rejected attempts to alter the city’s character and called on states to withdraw their diplomatic missions from it. Jerusalem, the statement noted, is part of the Palestinian territory occupied in 1967.

A call to reverse the decision

Bogota was urged to think again, reverse the move and meet its obligations under international law. The signatories also restated their support for an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. Colombia is the tenth country to open an embassy in the city; its new president has also undone his predecessor’s break with Israel and restored a trade agreement between the two countries.