Paraguay's government says it's moving its embassy in Israel out of Jerusalem and back to Tel Aviv, less than four months after opening the new mission.

Foreign Minister Luis Alberto Castiglioni announced Wednesday that the government had decided to take the action immediately.

Former President Horacio Cartes this year made Paraguay only the third country to transfer its embassy to Jerusalem, opening the mission on May 21. But new President Mario Abdo Benitez opposed the shift.

In response to the move, Israel said it was shuttering its embassy in Paraguay, saying ties between the countries would be "strained" by the decision.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said Paraguay had pledged to return the embassy two weeks ago during a visit by Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki to the country. </s> ASUNCION (Reuters) - Paraguay will move its embassy in Israel back to Tel Aviv, reversing a May decision by former President Horacio Cartes to move the diplomatic site to Jerusalem, the South American country’s foreign minister told reporters on Wednesday.

“Paraguay wants to contribute to an intensification of regional diplomatic efforts to achieve a broad, fair and lasting peace in the Middle East,” Foreign Minister Luis Alberto Castiglioni said.

Cartes had traveled to Israel to inaugurate the new embassy in May. His successor Mario Abdo, also a member of the conservative Colorado party, took office last month. </s> Paraguay opened a new embassy Monday in Jerusalem, becoming the third country to make the politically sensitive move in the past week.

Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes said at a dedication ceremony that the move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is "historic" and strengthens the ties between Paraguay and Israel.

Last week, the United States was the first to officially open its embassy in Jerusalem, fulfilling a campaign pledge from President Donald Trump.

Guatemala moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem two days later.

Palestinians have strongly opposed the changes. They see East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state, while Israel views Jerusalem as its undivided capital. </s> JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Paraguay opened its Israel embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, the second country to follow the United States in making the politically sensitive move from Tel Aviv.

Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended the inauguration ceremony. The United States relocated its embassy to Jerusalem a week ago, drawing Palestinian anger, and was followed by Guatemala on Wednesday. </s> JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Paraguay will move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem by the end of May, a Paraguay government spokesman and the Israeli foreign ministry said on Monday, following the United States and Guatemala.

The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest disputes between Israel, which says the city is its eternal and indivisible capital, and the Palestinians, who want the eastern part of the city as the capital of their own future state.

“Paraguay President Horacio Cartes plans to come to Israel by the end of the month to open an embassy in Jerusalem,” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said in a statement.

A Paraguay government spokesman said Cartes was scheduling a trip to Israel to move the embassy on May 21 or May 22.

In a visit to Venezuela to meet his counterpart there Nicolas Maduro, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he hoped other nations would not follow Paraguay, Guatemala and the United States.

“We hope that other countries on the American continent are not going to move their embassies to Jerusalem as this acts against international law,” said Abbas.

The announcement comes one week before the United States embassy opens in Jerusalem on May 14 in accordance with President Donald Trump’s Dec. 6 recognition of the city as Israel’s capital.

The U.S. move has delighted Israel and infuriated Palestinians.

Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordanian control in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognized internationally.

In March Guatemala’s president, Jimmy Morales, said that his country would move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on May 16, two days after the U.S. move.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in April that “at least half a dozen” countries were now “seriously discussing” following the U.S. lead, but he did not identify them.

In December, 128 countries voted in a non-binding U.N. General Assembly resolution calling on the United States to drop its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Nine voted against, 35 abstained and 21 did not cast a vote.

Paraguay’s embassy is currently located near Tel Aviv. </s> JERUSALEM - Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes inaugurated his country’s Israel embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, making it the third nation to take the deeply controversial step after the United States and Guatemala.

Cartes and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at the inauguration of the new embassy in a high-tech industrial park in southwest Jerusalem. The Paraguayan leader called it a “historic event”. “This act has profound significance in the sense that it expresses Paraguay’s sincere friendship and full solidarity with Israel,” he said.

Netanyahu said cooperation between the two countries would become “greater”, naming areas such as agriculture, security and technology. “You have not only the support of our government but the profound gratitude of the people of Israel,” Netanyahu said. “We remember our friends.”

Paraguay already supplies some 40 percent of beef consumed in Israel, while Cartes has Israeli bodyguards.

The South American nation of some seven million people follows in the footsteps of the United States, which broke with decades of international consensus when President Donald Trump declared Jerusalem Israel’s capital in December.

Washington followed up on the declaration by moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on May 14, the day that also marked the 70th anniversary of the creation of the state of Israel. The Palestinian leadership has frozen ties with the White House over the moves.

The US embassy opening was accompanied by mass protests and clashes along the Gaza border that saw 62 Palestinians killed by Israeli gunfire.

No Israelis were killed, and there have been international calls for an independent investigation into the deaths.

Israel has rejected such calls, saying its actions are necessary to protect its border and stop Islamist movement Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, from using the protests as cover to carry out violence.

Israel has sought to persuade other countries to follow the White House and move their embassies to Jerusalem from the Tel Aviv area, but so far only Paraguay and Guatemala have done so.

Guatemala opened its new embassy in the same Jerusalem office park as Paraguay’s on May 16.

Saeb Erekat, secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, harshly criticised Paraguay’s decision, saying “moving an embassy to Jerusalem is a widely rejected step”.

“We have witnessed today how the Paraguayan president is an irresponsible political leader by defying international law and the achievement of a just and lasting peace in the Middle East,” he said in a statement.

Jerusalem’s status is perhaps the thorniest issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel considers the entire city its capital, while the Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Israel occupied the West Bank and east Jerusalem in 1967 and later annexed east Jerusalem in a move never recognised by the international community. </s> Paraguay said on Wednesday it was moving its embassy in Israel back from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, prompting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to order the closure of Jewish state's mission in the South American country in retaliation.

Palestinian authorities reacted by deciding to "immediately" open an embassy in Paraguay's capital Asuncion, Foreign Affairs Minister Riyad al-Maliki said, according to the official news agency Wafa.

Paraguay's new President Mario Abdo Benitez, who took office in mid-August, decided to move back the embassy "to contribute to the intensification of regional and international diplomatic efforts that aim to achieve a broad, just and durable peace in the Middle East," his government said.

"Israel views with utmost gravity the extraordinary decision by Paraguay, which will cloud bilateral relations," Netanyahu's office retorted on Twitter.

The original decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv was taken by Abdo Benitez's predecessor Horacio Cartes shortly after President Donald Trump had announced the United States would relocate its own embassy to Jerusalem.

Cartes even joined Netanyahu in the new embassy's opening ceremony in Jerusalem in May.

Abdo Benitez was already president elect at that point and had questioned the decision, complaining that he had not been consulted.

Announcing the move, his government said it considered the return to Tel Aviv "appropriate," but Netanyahu's office replied that the decision had cast a shadow on relations between the two countries.

Paraguay, though, pointed to a long history of positive relations with Israel.

"I don't think this should annoy our Israeli brothers and friends," said Paraguay's Foreign Minister Luis Castiglioni.

"There are more than 85 countries that have kept their embassies in Tel Aviv and we're historic allies of Israel.

"Don't forget that Paraguay's vote was the decisive vote in the creation of Israel."

In line with most of Latin America, Paraguay was one of the 33 countries that voted in favor -- compared to just 13 against and 10 abstentions -- of the 1947 United Nations two-state partition plan for what was until then British Mandate Palestine.

Castiglioni said Paraguay had always been "predictable in its international relations" but that Cartes's move was "a distortion of this tradition and culture of respect for international law" and UN decrees.

Trump broke with decades of US policy by moving the US embassy to Jerusalem on May 14, infuriating Palestinians and intensifying protests on the Gaza border, with 60 killed in clashes with Israeli forces that day.

His move was followed by Guatemala while the Czech Republic decided to reopen its honorary consulate in Jerusalem as President Milos Zeman voiced his wish to also move its embassy from Tel Aviv. </s> "Paraguay wants to contribute to an intensification of regional diplomatic efforts to achieve a broad, fair and lasting peace in the Middle East," Castiglioni said, according to the Israeli daily Haaretz.

Now, Israel is responding by closing its embassy in Paraguay and recalling its ambassador for consultations, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said.

The Latin American nation followed in US President Donald Trump's footsteps in May when former Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes decided to relocate the country's embassy to Jerusalem. He was the third foreign leader to do so, following Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales and Trump himself. But Paraguay's move, at least, appears to be short-lived, because after three months, newly elected President Mario Abdo Benitez was more amenable to lobbying from Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki, who pushed for a reversal.

Cartes even went to Israel for a ceremony for the new Jerusalem embassy in May, which was attended by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The decision to move the embassy back to Tel Aviv was reportedly made a month ago, not long after the new administration was ushered in. Maliki participated in the inauguration of the new president, but the two nations decided to keep mum about the move so as not to attract pressure on Paraguay from Israel, according to Haaretz.

"The decision is in accordance with international law and [United Nations] Security Council decisions. It's a breakthrough for Palestinian diplomacy vis-à-vis the international community," Maliki said.

Paraguayan media reported that the initial decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem was unpopular in the country. Many world leaders consider the question of whether Jerusalem is an Israeli or a Palestinian city to be in dispute, and the United Nations considers East Jerusalem to be illegally occupied by Israel. The Palestinian Authority maintains that East Jerusalem is its nation's capital. </s> Paraguay opens embassy in Jerusalem, after US and Guatemala

JERUSALEM (AP) — Paraguay opened its new embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, following in the footsteps of the United States and Guatemala.

President Horacio Cartes dedicated the embassy, making Paraguay the third country to transfer its diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Romania, the Czech Republic and Honduras have said they are also considering doing the same.

President Donald Trump's announcement on Jerusalem in December was welcomed by the Israeli government. But it infuriated the Palestinians, who claim Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their future capital.

The U.S. Embassy move added fuel to the weekly Palestinian protests in Gaza demanding the right of return to Israel and the lifting of a decade-old naval blockade. The protests culminated last Monday, when Israeli forces killed nearly 60 Palestinians in clashes along the border.

The heavy death toll triggered a diplomatic backlash, with Turkey expelling Israel's ambassador and consul general and several European countries summoning the Israeli ambassadors to their foreign ministries for questioning.

But the U.S. Embassy move has also sparked others to rally in support of Israel.

The entrance to Jerusalem was lined with the flags of Paraguay on Wednesday and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the ceremony that he was there to "salute" a great friend.

The opening of the embassy was "a great day for Israel, a great day for Paraguay, a great day for our friendship," Netanyahu said.
Paraguay announces that it will move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by the end of May. Paraguay is the third country to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem after the United States and Guatemala.