JERUSALEM -- Costa Rica announced it will move its embassy back to Jerusalem, becoming the first country to defy a U.N. General Assembly resolution urging states to boycott the holy city as Israel's capital.
The announcement, issued in San Jose Wednesday and released in Jerusalem, was welcomed by Israel, engaged in a dispute with Egypt over whether Jerusalem will be a site for the renewed Palestinian autonomy negotiations.
'Costa Rica has explained ... that its decision is not directed against any country and is based on the respect of the government of Costa Rica to the right of every country to decide for itself the location of its government,' an Israeli Foreign Ministry statement said.
The ministry spokesman said Israel 'warmly welcomes the decision' and 'expresses the hope that other countries who have diplomatic relations with (Israel) will follow Costa Rica.'
The move had been expected since the election in February of of Luis Alberto Monge as president of the Latin American republic. Monge, a former ambassador to Israel who made the pledge in his campaign platform, took office Sunday.
Costa Rica was one of 12 Latin American nations that moved their embassies from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv two years ago in response to a U.N. resolution condemning an Israeli parliamentary motion asserting sovereignty over the entire city.
Israel annexed the eastern portion of the city after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war but its claim has not been recognized by most countries of the world.
Holland, the only European country with an embassy in Jerusalem at the time, also moved its offices to Tel Aviv. In all, 46 countries including the United States, have their diplomatic headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel's largest city.
While Egyptian diplomats have held talks on bilateral relations with Israeli counterparts in Jerusalem, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has refused to hold Palestinian autonomy talks in the city.
Egypt maintains predominantly Arab East Jerusalem is part of the occupied West Bank whose final status is open to negotiation -- a view vigorously rejected by Israel.
