With the dedication of the new Guatemalan Embassy in Jerusalem just days away, the Central American country has already taken the symbolic step of flying its national flag in the Israeli capital.
The new embassy, at the Malha Technology Park in the southern part of Jerusalem, is expected to open on May 16, a day after Israel's 70th anniversary.
The embassy grounds have been undergoing extensive renovations, with Carlos Meyer, the first secretary of the Guatemalan Embassy in Israel, overseeing the operation up close.
Meyer vowed to complete the preparations on time for the inauguration, which will be attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales
The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest obstacles to an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. Palestinians envision east Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state and are generally outraged by declarations of the city as the exclusive capital of Israel.
The international community does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the entire city, home to sites holy to the Jewish, Muslim and Christian religions. However, late last year, the U.S. officially recognized the city as Israel's capital and declared its intention to relocate its own embassy there.
Prior to 1980, Guatemala, along with Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, The Netherlands, Panama, Venezuela and Uruguay, maintained an embassy in Jerusalem.
Israel's passage in June 1980 of a law proclaiming Jerusalem its "indivisible and eternal capital" led to a U.N. Security Council resolution calling upon those countries to move their embassies to Tel Aviv, prompting their transfer.
Last December Morales announced a pledge to move the country's embassy to Jerusalem, following in the footsteps of U.S. President Donald Trump's decision.
"Guatemalans believe the relocation of the embassy is a historic move," Edgar Ortiz, a reporter from the Guatemalan news channel Canal Antigua said. "We have historically supported Israel, and Guatemala was one of the countries that supported its founding at the U.N. General Assembly vote [on the Partition Plan in 1947], but it is also immensely important to know that we are the first to make such a move and will have others follow us."
Several news outlets from Guatemala have sent reporters to Israel to cover the event. Several reporters told Israel Hayom that the embassy relocation has dominated the news coverage in the Latin American country recently, leading news broadcasts and appearing on front pages.
Leah Soibel is the Founder & CEO of Fuente Latina, an organization representing Spanish-language media in Israel that has brought journalists from Guatemala to Israel to cover the upcoming ceremony.
"The goal of this mission was to inform journalists on Jerusalem before the relocation takes place on May 16, as the city grabs the media spotlight," she told Israel Hayom.
