A week after telling the President Luis Lacalle Pou discrepancies with the decisions it adopted in relation to the palestinian-israeli conflictthe Arab league -an organization that brings together 22 African and Asian states- he sent the government a message of disagreementin this case to Uruguayan ambassador to the United Nations, Carlos Amorín.
In a meeting that took place in New York on Monday the 17th, the ambassadors of Iraq, Bahrain and Tunisia (the last, current and future monthly president of the Arab group respectively), in addition to the representative Palestinian before the United Nations, they repeated to the Uruguayan diplomat the same points that a group of five ambassadors had brought to the president in the Executive Tower on Tuesday the 11th.
This constitutes the third warning issued by the Arab League. The first had been to Foreign Minister Francisco Bustillo, a month before the meeting with the president.
The series of meetings occurred in the prelude to a new voting season regarding the question of Palestine in the United Nations.
Diplomatic sources told The Observer that the arab group put Uruguay’s international behavior in the spotlight for its historical and strict adherence to international law and its continuous promotion of human rights protection. For this reason they question the significant change in the traditional position of Uruguay in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
This was reflected both in the votes that have taken place in the last two years in the United Nations organizations that deal with the issue, as well as with the decision to open a commercial office in Jerusalem.
In multilateral organizations, Uruguayan diplomacy went from supporting all resolutions to abstaining from a significant number of them.
According to a survey carried out by The Observer based on information from the United Nations digital library, from the 25 votes that took place on different issues related to the Palestinian-Israeli and Arab-Israeli conflict between 2020 and 2022 in New York, Uruguay abstained on 15 occasions and voted in the affirmative on the other 10. This includes discussions around Jerusalem and the occupied territories in the Golan Heights.
In the Fourth Committeewhich deals with matters Special Policy and Discrimination, the alignment with Israel shines more significantly. there was 13 votes in the last two periods of sessions in which the Uruguayan diplomacy abstained in nine of them and voted for the positive in the remaining four.
Meanwhile, in the United Nations General Assembly there were eight resolutions, of which Uruguay abstained in six and supported two.
However, in the Human Rights Council that works in Geneva, Uruguay’s position was one of continuity. Of the nine votes that took place in 2020 and 2021 (this year it is no longer a member of that body), Uruguay voted in favor of Palestinian interests on seven occasions and abstained on two that involved a declaration on the situation of human rights in the Golan .
Beyond numbers, the Arabs understand that Uruguay had to accompany several resolutions that were attached to international law.
Despite the Arab lobby,No decision has yet been made on a change of position in the next round of voting that will take place between November and DecemberForeign Ministry sources told The Observer. The drafts of the draft resolutions have already arrived at the Foreign Ministry and are being analyzed.
Uruguay maintains relevant commercial ties with several of the countries of the Arab bloc, with which it had exports of US$ 660 million in 2021 according to data from Uruguay XXI, which is equivalent to 6.7% of Uruguayan sales to the world last year. Egypt, Algeria and Iraq are the first three destinations and take more than 90% of those US$ 660 million.
The Observer he consulted the Israeli embassy about the Arab claim but they said they would not comment on it.
The question of Jerusalem and a new claim
The other issue that led the Arabs to mobilize is Lacalle Pou’s decision to open a commercial office in Jerusalem, the disputed city.
Although the Uruguayan government never considered the possibility of moving its embassyas did the United States, Guatemala, Honduras and Kosovo, the Arabs interpreted the opening of the trade office as a symbolic gesture recognizing, in fact, the Israeli occupation of the West Bank territoriescontrary to resolution 242 voted by the Security Council after the 1967 war.
However, the question of Jerusalem has one more step of complexity. The city has a high religious and historical value for the three religions. It houses the Holy Sepulchre, the Wailing Wall -one of the walls of the temple wall built by King Solomon and which was destroyed twice, the last time in 70 by the Romans- and the mosque of Al Aqsa.
The religious custodian of these sites holy to Islam is the Jordanian monarchy. For this reason, Uruguay’s decision will be submitted to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation through its Al-quds Committee (the Arabic name for Jerusalem)..
This is the most important Islamic institution as it brings together 57 states that embrace that religion. Diplomatic sources told The Observer that it has not yet been resolved if the organization will seek a meeting with the Uruguayan government or if it will send a letter.
