UN-Truth

European Ministers call for talks on status of Jerusalem

Posted on December 8th, 2009 by Marian Houk

That’s a safe way out.

The EU Foreign Ministers had been expected to vote — yes, vote, meaning that there was not unanimity, but those who are for or against the proposal would have to openly show their position — on a document containing a draft proposal supporting the Palestinian position that East Jerusalem would be the capital of a future Palestinian State.

The Palestinian position is that Jerusalem should be shared — not divided.

However, Israeli officials have taken the position that this would be tantamount to division.

Israel currently controls all of Jerusalem — as it defines the city, greatly expanded from its boundaries in 1948 when the State of Israel was proclaimed.

Until the June 1967 war, Israel did not control the very important Old City of East Jerusalem, where the most sacred site in Judaism (and the third most sacred site in Islam) is located.

In the wake of its conquest in June 1967, Israel then greatly expanded the boundaries of “Jerusalem”, to encompass not only West Jerusalem which Israel held since 1948, but also the 6 square kilometers of the Old City of East Jerusalem and its immediate surroundings — plus 65 square kilometers more, extending in the north nearly to Ramallah, and in the south nearly to Bethlehem, incorporating some significant pieces of the West Bank.

Israel continues to define all this as the “Greater Jerusalem Municipality”, and says it will never be “divided” again.

Haaretz has just reported that “European Union foreign ministers called on Tuesday for negotiations over the status of Jerusalem, saying a way should be found to make it the capital of two nations, Israel and a future Palestinian state … ‘If there is to be a genuine peace, a way must be found through negotiations to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the future capital of two states’, EU foreign ministers agreed in a statement released on Tuesday, diplomats said … Most EU ministers appeared supportive of the latest draft [of the document they did not decide upon today], although some said the declaration should not antagonize either party in the dispute at the risk of undermining efforts to restart peace talks. ‘I don’t really understand why Israel does not accept that Palestine consists of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem’, Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn told journalists. ‘The Israelis have a right to live in Israel, the Palestinians have a right to live in Palestine.’ [N.B., as suggested above, the Israeli definition of "Israel" does not correspond to what many Europeans believe -- which is Israel within the pre-1967 armistice lines negotiated by the United Nations, while the Palestinians have claimed all the territory within the former British Mandate of Palestine that was not part of Israel prior to 4 June 1967, when the Six-Day War broke out.] Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb said the EU must affirm its stand on the status of Jerusalem and insist that Israel must not resume settlement building. ‘The EU has very strong principles and we have to stick to those principles’, Stubb said. ‘I think the negotiations, the peace process must simply start and this is a way forward’.” This report can be read in full in Haaretz here.

EU leaders will hold their annual year-end summit on Thursday and Friday.