The foreign ministers of 20 countries issued a joint statement strongly condemning Colombia's inauguration of its embassy in Jerusalem, calling the step a contravention of relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions that undermines international efforts toward a just and lasting peace based on the two-state solution.
The signatories — Turkey, Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen — declared that any measure intended to alter the legal or historical status of occupied Jerusalem, or to recognise it as Israel's capital, is null and void and carries no legal effect. The ministers grounded this position in UN Security Council Resolutions 476 (1980) and 478 (1980), which, they said, reject attempts to change Jerusalem's character or status and call on states to withdraw diplomatic missions from the city, described in the statement as part of Palestinian territory occupied in 1967.
The joint statement was published through Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which presented the move as inconsistent with international law obligations. The ministers urged the Colombian government to reconsider and reverse its decision, and to refrain from measures that prejudice what the statement characterised as the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people — including their right to an independent and sovereign Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The statement reflects a pattern of coordinated diplomatic signalling among Muslim-majority and Arab states on the status of Jerusalem, a question that has long drawn collective responses within multilateral groupings. The call to Bogotá to uphold its obligations under international law — framed in the ministers' own language — represents the statement's most direct demand, stopping short of specifying any concrete measures the signatories would take should Colombia maintain its position.
This article is based on a primary source and has undergone editorial review prior to publication.




