The foreign ministers of Malawi and the Israeli occupation announced Tuesday that Malawi intends to open an embassy in Occupied Jerusalem, to be the first African country to establish a diplomatic mission in the disputed city, in more than four decades.

"I congratulate the Malawian government on its important decision to be a pioneer and the first African country to establish an embassy in Jerusalem," Israeli occupation Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said in a joint press conference in Occupied Jerusalem with his Malawian counterpart Eisenhower Macaca.

For his part, McCaka said, "We have reaffirmed our rapprochement and our shared values of prosperity and peace," explaining that he delivered a message from the President of Malawi, Lazarus Shakwira, which includes his country's decision to open an embassy in Occupied Jerusalem.

The Ivory Coast, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Kenya opened embassies in Occupied Jerusalem, but closed them after the October 1973 war between the Israeli occupier on the one hand and Egypt and Syria on the other.

Currently, there are embassies of several African countries in Tel Aviv, but none of them have opened an embassy in the disputed city of Occupied Jerusalem between the Palestinians and the Israeli occupiers.

Malawi is one of the few African countries that has not severed its relationship with the Israeli occupier since 1964, but it does not have an embassy in the Jewish state, as the Israeli occupation Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated.

In 2018, the United States moved its embassy in the Israeli occupation from Tel Aviv to Occupied Jerusalem, which angered the Palestinians, as the status of Occupied Jerusalem is one of the thorniest issues in occupation.

The Israeli occupier occupied East Jerusalem in 1967 and annexed it. It considers the city to be its "eternal and united" capital, while the Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of their desired state.

The United Nations considers that the status of Occupied Jerusalem should be the subject of agreement between the Israeli occupier and the Palestinians, and therefore no country should open a diplomatic representation in the city.