Palestinian Authority (PA) cabinet leader Mohammad Shtayyeh on Friday condemned Honduras for announcing the opening of a diplomatic mission to Israel in Jerusalem, saying the PA considers the announcement a “crime against international law and the two-state solution.”
Shtayyeh also called upon Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández to cancel his scheduled visit to Israel, in which he is expected to inaugurate the diplomatic mission in Jerusalem.
“The right of Palestinians to Jerusalem as the capital of their independent state is a sacred right. It is unacceptable [that Jerusalem] be used for gaining or selling political positions in favor of the United States or Israel,” Shtayyeh said in a press statement quoted by the PA’s official Wafa news agency.
He added that PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas has been closely following up on this matter, and has given instructions to deal with it.
“The government has put in place a set of steps to confront Honduras' decision in international forums, including filing a complaint against it with the UN Secretary General, and submitting a draft resolution against in the UN General Assembly, as the decision violates the UN Security Council resolutions condemning and preventing recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” Shtayyeh concluded.
Hernandez announced on Tuesday that his country would open a diplomatic office in Jerusalem.
The mission will be an extension of Honduras' Tel Aviv-based embassy, but Hernandez it was "recognition that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel."
The PA “foreign ministry” later said it would submit a formal complaint against Honduras to the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
It called the decision a "direct aggression" against the Palestinian Arab people and a "blatant violation of international law and legitimacy."
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)