Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has written Malawi leader Lazarus Chakwera expressing concerns over Malawi’s plan to establish diplomatic mission with Israel in Jerusalem.
Palestinian Ambassador to South Africa Hanan Jarrar delivered the letter to Chakwera on Thursday at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe.
Chakwera who was elected in June said a few months ago that Malawi will establish a diplomatic mission with Israel in Jerusalem, a city that is at the centre of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency before she met Chakwera, Jarrar said the Jerusalem move defies International Laws and United Nations Resolutions.
She said the UN Security Council Resolution 476 (1980), recently reaffirmed by Resolution 2334 (2016), does not recognize any action that seeks to change the character and status of Jerusalem.
“Any step taken to establish a diplomatic mission in Jerusalem is a violation of the relevant United Nations resolutions,” Jarrar said.
She further called on all countries which have established a diplomatic mission in Jerusalem “to withdraw such a mission from the Holy City.”
After meeting Chakwera on Thursday, Jarrar said the Malawi leader appeared to be accommodative.
Currently, Malawi Minister of Foreign Affairs Eisenhower Mkaka is in Israel where on Tuesday he said Malawi will open the embassy in 2021.
Meanwhile, social commentator Onjezani Kenani has condemned Malawi’s Jerusalem move saying Malawi will gain nothing in doing so, other than courting global shame.
He said: “So we have come up with a foreign policy that fans the flames of confrontation between Israelis and Palestinians – all for no reason or particular benefit at all.”
