Qais Abu Samra
RAMALLAH: The Ramallah-based Palestinian government has slammed a decision by Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales to transfer his country’s Israel embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
In a Monday statement, the government called on Arab and Muslim countries to adopt a “firm stand” in opposition to the move.
“The Guatemalan decision violates the rules and principles of international law and resolutions adopted by the international community,” the statement read.
Earlier Monday, Morales announced his intention to relocate Guatemala’s Israel embassy to Jerusalem sometime in May. The announcement came shortly after a meeting in Washington between the Guatemalan president and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Last December, U.S. Pre-sident Trump sparked outcry across the Arab and Muslim world after recognizing Jer-usalem as Israel’s capital and vowing to relocate Washing-ton’s embassy to the city.
Jerusalem remains at the heart of the Palestine-Israel conflict, with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem — occupied by Israel since 1967 — might eventually serve as the capital of an independent Palestinian state.
Nour Abu Aisha adds from Gaza city: Dozens of Palestinian journalists on Monday staged a demonstration outside the UN’s Gaza City office to protest Facebook’s practice of unilaterally blocking Palestinian Facebook accounts.
Demonstrators held banners aloft, reading, “Facebook is complicit in [Israel’s] crimes” and “Facebook favors the [Israeli] occupation”.
According to Salama Maarouf, a spokesman for Hamas (which remains in de facto control of the Gaza Strip), Facebook blocked roughly 200 Palestinian accounts last year — and 100 more since the start of 2018 — “on phony pretexts”.
Speaking at Monday’s demonstration, which was organized by the Journalists Support Committee, a Palestinian NGO, Maarouf described the popular social-media platform as “a major violator of freedom of opinion and expression”. (AA)
