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| - A delegation from Chad discussed the possible opening of an embassy in Jerusalem, in a meeting Tuesday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli leader said. The premier, whose country is to sign a US-brokered deal normalising relations with the UAE, had announced a renewal of ties with Chad after a 47-year hiatus during a 2019 visit to the central African country. Chad, one of the world's poorest countries, is not an Arab League member state but belongs to the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). Netanyahu has sought to normalise the Jewish state's ties with Arab and Muslim nations as well as pushing for greater international recognition of the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. US President Donald Trump recognised the disputed city as Israel's "undivided capital" in December 2017, breaking with decades of international consensus that its status should be settled in a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. On Tuesday, the Chadian delegation led by Abdelkerim Idriss Deby, a son of President Idriss Deby Itno, met Israeli officials including Netanyahu. "We discussed the appointment of ambassadors and the opening of diplomatic missions, including the possibility of opening an embassy in Jerusalem," Netanyahu tweeted. The meetings came less than a month after the UAE pledged to become the first Gulf nation and only the third Arab state, after Egypt and Jordan, to normalise its ties with Israel. They also came just days after Serbia said it would transfer its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, becoming the first European country to follow the US in making the move. gl/on/par/hc
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