Oscar Arias makes it clear below that what Costa Rica has done is back the strong horse, bearing out again Osama's now-famous dictum. "El Salvador to move embassy from Jerusalem," from the Hizballah News Agency, aka Reuters, with thanks to JS:
El Salvador will move its embassy in Israel from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, the Foreign Ministry said on Friday, in a move bound to upset Israel and please Arab nations.El Salvador would have been the only country in the world left with an embassy in Jerusalem after neighboring Costa Rica announced on August 16 it would pull its diplomatic mission out of the city.
A US ally which has a small contingent of troops in Iraq, El Salvador is governed by conservative President Tony Saca, who is of Palestinian Christian descent....
Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, a former Nobel Peace Prize winner, said earlier this month he made the decision to change the embassy's location to win more friends in the Middle East and comply with UN resolutions.
Doesn't suprise me. Elías Antonio Saca González, the current president of El Salvador, is of Palestinian descent, as was the late Schafic Handal, the leader of that country's communist party.
One embassy will always be there, the Christian embassy. Maybe not a country but a kingdom, and always Israels friend.
Well at least 34 other countries maintain their embassies in Tel Aviv.
There is more to this story than this article lets on. El Salvador's President Elias Antonio Saca is of Christian Palestinian origin and has been one of the most pro-Israel of all the world's leaders. It was because of his leadership, both as president, and before, as a broadcaster and congressman who helped maintain El Salvador's pro-Israeli policies despite opposition from Islamo-Communist Schafik Handel's FMLN party's strength in Congress.
The real story is that little El Salvador can no longer resist the pressure of the Europeans (especially Spain) and of the US State Department to "join the rest of the world" in Tel Aviv. The Salvadoreno Ambassador and embassy staff have been completely ostracized by the diplomatic community in Israel. Even the Israeli government has encouraged El Salvador to relocate to Tel Aviv offering the a prime location for a new embassy. So, after Costa Rica caved in, it makes no sense to stand alone in a losing battle.
On last point: Israel appears to want the entire diplomatic community in Tel Aviv as a deterent to an Iranian nuclear strike on the city. Iran will not nuke Jerusalem i.e. "Al-Quds" because of the Haram al-Sharif but Tel Aviv is the economic and cultural center of Israel. Destroy Tel Aviv and Israel is defeated. By having all the embassies there, a strike on Tel Aviv is a strike on the world, and certain Israeli leaders believe that protects the city. We'll see...?
One more state belatedly endorses the 1947 partition plan--the rationale for the USA having always had its embassy in Tel Aviv and a mere consulate in the [Arab part of] Jerusalem.
Israel should return the favor to every country that refuses to have its embassy in Jerusalem. Have their US embassy in Arlington, VA, their British embassy in Cornwall, their Russian embassy in Tula, their Chinese embassy in Harbin, their Indian embassy in Simla, their Thai embassy in Phuket, etc. Let every country that deals with it then decide whether that inconvinience is worth it.
Incidentally, isn't it Israel's prerogative where it chooses to have its foreign embassies? How do the visiting countries get to choose?