GUATEMALA CITY: Guatemala on Tuesday said its decision to follow the US in moving its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem was a “sovereign” matter that should not affect ties with other countries. The announcement made Guatemala the first country to follow the United States in saying it was moving its embassy. Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its capital, while Palestinians, consider east Jerusalem as the occupied capital of their future state. The United States and Israel mustered seven other countries to their side to vote no to the UN resolution. A former president of Guatemala, Ramiro de Leon Carpio, who was in power 1993-1996, had made a decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem, but backtracked when Muslim-majority countries shut off access to Guatemalan goods.

Source: New Strait Times December 27, 2017 00:11 UTC