Palestine pushes Paraguay President to return country's embassy

Riyad al-Maliki pushed new Paraguay President Mario Abdo to return his country's embassy in Israel from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, the Palestinian foreign ministry said.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki pushed new Paraguay President Mario Abdo to return his country's embassy in Israel from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, the Palestinian foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

The Palestinian foreign ministry hailed the announcement as "a new Palestinian diplomatic achievement" and said Maliki had met Abdo two weeks ago.

"Minister Maliki exerted a big effort during his meeting with the new president who instructed his foreign minister to arrange the issue," the Palestinian ministry said.

Following the move, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the closure of Israel's embassy in Paraguay.

(Reporting by Ali Sawafta, Writing by Ori Lewis, Editing by William Maclean)