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This is potentially big news. Haaretz reports that Sweden is leading a drive within the EU to recognize East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. The statement, expected next week, would also announce that the EU will recognize the unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state should the PA go that route:
The document expressed the EU’s concern over the stalemate in the peace process and calls for the immediate renewal of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in accordance with a prescribed timetable. The goal, it states, is “an independent, democratic, contiguous and viable state of Palestine, comprising the West Bank and Gaza and with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
The draft refers directly to the situation in East Jerusalem, calling on “all parties to refrain from provocative actions” and stating the EU Council “has never recognized the annexation of East Jerusalem. If there is to be a genuine peace, a way must be found to resolve the status of Jerusalem as capital of two states. The Council calls for the reopening of Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem in accordance with the road map. It also calls on the Israeli government to cease all discriminatory treatment of Palestinians in East Jerusalem.”
…On the issue of borders, the document states that the EU will not accept any changes made by Israel to the 1967 borders unless they have PA approval. The EU, it says, welcomes PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s proposal of a unilateral declaration of statehood and would “be able, at the appropriate time, to recognize a Palestinian state.”
And to give you some idea of the hopelessness of the Israeli foreign ministry under Avigdor Lieberman, here is its response, which I guess is supposed to make the EU shiver in its boots:
Senior Foreign Ministry officials said the belief is widespread across the foreign policy echelon that Sweden is advancing an explicitly “anti-Israel” line, rendering Europe “irrelevant” to the peace process.
Translation: Lieberman is pissed as hell at those Arab-loving Swedish cock suckers.
I’m presuming that the EU has at least consulted with Pres. Obama on this and would not go forward so boldly without at least tacit encouragement from the U.S. Let’s wait and see whether he makes any public statement. It’s doubtful he would say anything positive. But if the EU is going it alone then he might criticize the EU initiative. Somehow I think we won’t hear anything out of Washington and that Obama sees this as a trial balloon for a potential partnership with the EU regarding which the U.S. can join at a later date.
Related posts:
- Jerusalem: Capital in Name Only
- U.S. Veto of UN Security Council Resolution on East Jerusalem: Will It or Won’t It?
- Sacked IDF Torturer to Direct Police Relations With East Jerusalem Arabs
- EU Caves on Recognizing Palestinian State
- Religion vs. Politics in Middle East
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Tags: endorses unilateral declaraction of palestinian state, eu to recognize east jerusalem, palestinian capital
I really hope this is true! It would make me feel slightly less ashamed as a European.
Richard, I do love your translations, lol
I am praying that this is true. Not only will it break the death grip Israel has on European politics, but also possibly here in the US. It may be what Obama is hoping will happen.
As for Avigdor Lieberman, I’m sure Richard’s translation is spot on!
I have a tear in my eye. Not to get too ahead of things, of if any of this happens, it’s a beautiful start.
notice they didnt recognize Western Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Perhaps all of Jerusalem is on the table
That’s funny. Undoubtedly, they, the U.S. & every other country in the world would be delighted to recognize W. Jerusalem as Israel’s capital once Israel recognizes E. Jerusalem as Palestine’s capital. That’s a fair exchange I think. Are you prepared to make it?
It has been a long-held idea that Jerusalem be shared, but as we know, there are plenty of people on both sides who are against it. Ironically, they’re not even religious and don’t care about the shared history of the city. Go figure.
Not to doubt the sincerity of the Swedish plan, but do any definitions of “East Jerusalem” enter the picture? Since 1967 Israel has expanded the municipal borders of the city tens of times its original size eastward into the West Bank, in particular to make it contiguous with Maale Adumim. Since the annexation (and hence the enlargement) of East J’lem has been recognised by no one, am I right to assume the city’s internationally legal status, including its area, is still that of pre-67? And is this what the Swedes are talking about or is it East J’lem, as Israel understands it?
Actually, as you may know, Jerusalem’s internationally legal status is still a corpus separatum as determined by the UN in 1947. Its de facto status is quite different from that obviously, but this remains its de jure status.
The EU appears to define “East Jerusalem” as the areas occupied by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan from 1948-1967, although this is a bit of sleight-of-pen, in that it did not recognize that sovereign during that occupation, nor did any of its member states. So it’s a shorthand for “all but 1949 Israel’s Jerusalem, which we still don’t recognize as Israel’s.”
I find it somewhat sinister because I think that the EU is trying to find a way to recognize sole Palestinian succession to the Mandate in all of Eretz Israel and Palestine as the sole sovereign there. One might pointedly ask the EU its position on the status of Latrun, or whether it thinks Israel has any borders or existence at all. To be consistent with the ’67 borders, the EU would have to claim Latrun and Emmaus for Palestine and then recognize a ’67 border for Israel westward of Jerusalem, one it has never accepted in Jerusalem.
Your comment is mystifying. Jordan controlled all of what is now the West Bank & the EU certainly isn’t including that within “East Jerusalem.”
Are you really seriously arguing that the EU is planning to recognize the Palestinians as sovereign in “all of Mandatory Eretz Israel and Palestine???” If so, I know you’ve taken leave of yr senses. But perhaps you’ve confused yrself & mean something less draconian than that. One can always hope you haven’t lost yr mind.
Ah, I think the EU is going to at least push for Latrun, all of East Jerusalem, Palestine as sole sovereign over the Jewish Quarter, and a few nods to the ’47 borders before being willing to recognize West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. In short, “nice capital you got here, wouldn’t want us to seize the assets of your entire state in our banks, would you? Or institute an airtight trade boycott?” I think that is totally consonant with the UK’s treatment of Palestinian-Jewish-held assets in the UK in 1950 and the EU’s attitude today. It will be particularly interesting to see the fate of Israeli-Palestinian Jerusalem-area villages such as Ein Kerem and Abu Ghosh, whether the EU wants them handed over to Palestine because of the non-recognition of Israeli Jerusalem, and how much more Catholic than the Pope the EU is willing to be.
Again, you keep accusing me of being loopy when I am only following the implications of current policy to their natural conclusions. The EU believes Israel is Tel Aviv, or at most the ’47 borders, since it doesn’t recognize the ’48 border in Jerusalem. Why shouldn’t an Israeli with full knowledge of Europe’s tradition of extraterritoriality in Eretz Israel think they’re going to relieve Israel of East Jerusalem, the Jewish Quarter, West Jerusalem, Eretz Israel? American Colony, Greek Colony, German Colony, Russian Compound, and anything Jewish is unrecognized and only “Israeli” as long as it can be kept by force of arms.
You used the term “loopy” to describe my view of yr thinking. I can only concur.
Then you support eternal war. That’s good to know.