Jorge García Granados

Guatemalan diplomat

Guatemala's min. Dr. G. Granados leaving the president's house after presenting his credentials, Jerusalem

Dr. Jorge García Granados (21 April 1900 – 3 May 1961) was a politician and diplomat from Guatemala, a grandson^[1]^: p.17 of Miguel García Granados, the leader and philosopher of the liberal revolution in the 19th century.

Granados was the ambassador of his country to the United Nations and a member of the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP).^[2] Granados cast the very first vote for the creation of the state of Israel and Guatemala became the first Latin American country to recognize Israel after the proclamation of the state.^[3]

At the time of the vote on the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, Granados organized a lobby of Central and South American countries to support the partition plan.^[4] In 1956, Guatemala became the first country to open an embassy in Jerusalem, with Granados appointed as the first ambassador. The Israeli cities of Jerusalem and Ramat-Gan named streets to honor Granados.

Garcia Granados wrote about his experience serving on the UNSCOP in his book, The Birth of Israel: The Drama as I Saw It. In the book, Granados describes his youth, his time in political exile from Guatemala during the reign of military dictatorships, the achievements of the Zionist movement during the British mandate on Palestine, and the events surrounding the creation of Israel.

Notes

^ García Granados, Jorge (1948). HathiTrust Digital Library (ed.). "The birth of Israel : the drama as I saw it". babel.hathitrust.org. New York, NY, USA: Alfred A. Knopf. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
^ Ben-Dror, Elad (2022). UNSCOP and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: The Road to Partition. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1032059631.
^ Shields, Jacqueline. "Guatemala Virtual Jewish History Tour". jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
^ "Foreign Countries: Central America" (PDF), American Jewish Year Book, vol. 75, USA: American Jewish Committee (AJC), 1974–1975, retrieved 2015-08-24

References

American Jewish year book, 1974–75
García Granados, Jorge (1947-10-10), "16. General debate on the three questions referred to the Committee by the General Assembly (continued)", Official records of the General Assembly, 2nd session, Ad Hoc Committee on the Palestinian Question, Summary records of meetings, 25 September-25 November 1947. (in English and French), addressing the 10th meeting, Friday 10 October, Lake Success, NY: United Nations (published 1947), pp. 52–60, UN Document Symbol: A/AC.14/SR.10, retrieved 23 December 2015, In the light of the Treaty of Lausanne and international practice after the two world wars, it was clear that however inconceivable it might appear to some people, the inhabitants of any particular region had no say in international conferences at which their fate was decided. The Arab argument regarding the self-determination of peoples constituted an ideal, but not an axiom of international law.