Hoti: Israel recognized Kosovo 22 minutes after signing the documents in Washington

Kosovo Prime Minister Avdulah Hoti said today that Israel recognized Kosovo 22 minutes after he and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić pledged in Washington to normalize economic relations between the two sides.

"It is wrong for anyone to have doubts that this agreement violates the sovereignty of the state of Kosovo. I think that this recognition, which came from Israel 22 minutes after the signing of the agreement in the White House, can only strengthen the sovereignty of the state of Kosovo," Hoti told reporters.

He said that "he has no doubt that the agreement will be implemented", N1 television reported.

"It was concluded in the White House and I don't believe that any other office has more credibility to ensure the implementation of the agreement," said Hoti.

Vučić and Hoti committed to the normalization of economic relations at the White House on Friday. They each signed a copy of the document called "Economic Normalization" in the presence of US President Donald Trump. The documents differ only in the last of the 16 points.

In the document signed by Vučić, the last point reads: "Serbia (Belgrade) agrees to open the office of the Chamber of Commerce and the state office in Jerusalem on September 20, 2020, and to transfer the embassy to Jerusalem by July 1, 2021."

In the document signed by Hoti, the last point reads: "Kosovo (Pristina) and Israel agree to mutual recognition."

Despite this, the Serbian public is still debating whether Serbia has unconditionally committed to moving the embassy to Jerusalem by July 1, 2021.

The newspaper "Times of Israel" reported today that Serbia will not fulfill its promise to move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem if Israel recognizes Kosovo's independence, citing a source close to the government in Belgrade.

Vučić's media adviser Suzana Vasiljević said today that the relocation of the Serbian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem "is not definitive", that the next steps will be discussed and that Serbia "has not accepted anything for now".

Addressing the public after the signing of the agreement in the White House, Vucic said on Friday that the US position was that Serbia should invite Israel to recognize independent Kosovo, which was unacceptable for Belgrade.

Vučić said that this is why the decision was made for the Serbian and Albanian sides to sign two documents.

"In our document with the Americans, we offered Israel and said, 'If you respect Serbia, we will move the embassy to Jerusalem in a year,'" Vučić said on Friday.

Almost simultaneously with Vučić's address to the public, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the announcement of the relocation of the Serbian embassy to Jerusalem.

He also said that Israel will establish diplomatic relations with Pristina and that Kosovo will open an embassy in Jerusalem and become the first European and the first majority Muslim country to do so.

So far, only two countries have moved their embassies to Jerusalem, the USA and Guatemala.

Most of the international community does not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and believes that such recognition must be part of the solution to the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on the two-state model. According to that model, East Jerusalem would be the capital of the future Palestinian state.

Resolution 478 of the UN Security Council from 1980 calls on all members of the world organization to withdraw their diplomatic missions from Jerusalem.