US isn’t the first country to open an embassy in Jerusalem – and it won’t be the last
In the wake of Donald Trump’s announcement on December 6, some countries plan to move their embassies to Jerusalem – and Israel is hoping for more
When the United States opens its embassy in Jerusalem on Monday it will be the most high-profile diplomatic inauguration in the holy city, but not the first nor the last.
Several countries, mainly African and Latin American, have previously had their ambassadors based in Jerusalem and some are expected to return.
After the 1973 Yom Kippur war, Ivory Coast, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) and Kenya severed relations with Israel in protest and closed the doors of their embassies in Jerusalem.
They later renewed relations but moved their missions to Tel Aviv.
In 1980 Israel enacted a law declaring Jerusalem, including the mainly Palestinian eastern zone, its “complete and united” capital.
The United Nations Security Council branded the move illegal and adopted a resolution calling on “those states that have established diplomatic missions at Jerusalem to withdraw such missions”.
