Paraguay will move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem by the end of May, a Paraguayan government spokesman and Israel's Foreign Ministry said Monday. The move will make Paraguay the third nation to relocate to the capital, after the United States and Guatemala.
"Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes plans to come to Israel by the end of the month to open an embassy in Jerusalem," Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said in a statement.
The ministry said President-elect Mario Abdo Benitez is also expected to attend the inauguration of the new Paraguayan embassy as an expression of his desire to maintain strong ties with Israel.
A Paraguayan government spokesman said Cartes is scheduling a trip to Israel this month and is planning to move the embassy on May 21 or 22.
The announcement comes a week before the scheduled May 14 opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, which follows U.S. President Donald Trump's recognition last December of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and his promise to relocate the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv. In March, Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales said his country would move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on May 16.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, on a visit to Venezuela, said he hoped no other nations would follow in the footsteps of Paraguay, Guatemala and the United States in relocating their embassies to Jerusalem.
"We hope that other countries on the American continents are not going to move their embassies to Jerusalem as this acts against international law," Abbas said.
The Palestinians envision Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state and reject any recognition of it as Israel's capital. For years, world policy has been for the status of Jerusalem to be decided in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, with most countries maintaining embassies outside the city to avoid making an official statement.
In April, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that "at least half a dozen" countries were "seriously discussing" following the U.S. lead, but he did not name them.
