CAIRO, May 21 (Xinhua) -- Arab League (AL) Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit condemned on Monday the opening of Paraguay's embassy in Jerusalem, warning the move will have a negative impact on ties between the Latin American country and the Arab world.
In a statement, the AL chief urged world countries to refrain from taking similar steps that would harm opportunities for fair settlement to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Paraguay opened its embassy in Jerusalem Monday, becoming the third country to do so following the United States and Guatemala.
On May 14, the United Stated opened its embassy in Jerusalem, which Israel claims to be the capital of the Jewish country.
Wide-spread protests broke out in West Bank cities and Gaza, where at least 60 were killed and over 3,000 wounded due to clashes with the Israeli soldiers.
AL Council issued a resolution on May 17, stipulating that the AL member countries will take suitable political and economic measures against countries that transfer their embassies to Jerusalem.
Moving embassy to Jerusalem is an invalid move as it violates the international consensus about Jerusalem, the AL statement said.
Israel seized East Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast War, along with the rest of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It later annexed East Jerusalem and declared it as part of its "eternal and indivisible capital," in a move that has never been recognized by the international community.
Palestinians, who make up more than one third of the city's overall population, consider East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.
The peace talks between Palestine and Israel have been stalled since April 2014. The U.S.-sponsored talks that lasted for nine months achieved no tangible results.
