According to the heads of European diplomatic missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah, the EU treats East Jerusalem as the capital of the future Palestinian state. The 25 European diplomats, mainly consuls, recommended in a new confidential document published by British daily The Independent on January 10 that EU officials and politicians refuse to visit Israeli government offices that are located beyond the Green Line and that they decline any Israeli security in the Old City and elsewhere in East Jerusalem.
The publishing of the document followed the demolition of the Shepherd Hotel in East Jerusalem on a day earlier. The Israeli move drew global criticism. The document also proposes that visiting senior EU officials would not use Israeli businesses operating in East Jerusalem, such as hotels and transportation companies, and that archaeological sites operated by pro-occupier organisations not be visited. The British newspaper said that the report was completed last month and was sent to the EU’s main foreign policy body, the Political and Security Committee in Brussels. It was apparently not released at the time due to the sensitivity of its content, the report said.
According to the EU diplomats, “Israel has left Palestinian neighbourhoods ever more isolated” and “by legal and practical means, is actively pursuing its (illegal) annexation by systematically undermining the Palestinian presence in the city.” The diplomats suggested that they should be present during house demolitions in the city, attend demolition- and eviction-related court proceedings and “ensure EU intervention when Palestinians are arrested or intimidated by Israeli authorities for peaceful cultural, social or political activities in East Jerusalem.”
“If current trends are not stopped as a matter of urgency, the prospect of East Jerusalem as the future capital of a Palestinian state becomes increasingly unlikely and unworkable,” the document continued. “This, in turn, seriously endangers the chances of a sustainable peace on the basis of two states, with Jerusalem as their future capital,” the Independent reported.
The diplomats criticised the Israeli policies against Palestinian life in the disputed city. “Restrictive zoning and planning, ongoing demolitions and evictions, an inequitable education policy, difficult access to health care, the inadequate provision of resources and investment,” they wrote in the document. The diplomats’ document also discusses the possibility of preventing violent occupiers in East Jerusalem from being granted entry into EU countries. In the area of commerce, it recommends encouraging a boycott of Israeli products from East Jerusalem. They also recommend that the EU encourage Israel to allow the reopening of Palestine Liberation Organisation offices in East Jerusalem.
Israel closed the PLO offices during the second intifada.
The report further recommends that the European Union “encourage Arab countries to acknowledge the multicultural dimension of Jerusalem, including its Jewish and Christian heritage.” Israeli sources said that the document could be seen as a foundation for sanctions against Israel.
Meanwhile, the Jewish-dominated Jerusalem Municipality demolished an “illegal” structure in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Al-Tour. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is defending illegal new construction in East Jerusalem. Netanyahu says the building of a new Israeli enclave in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah is a private project “in accordance with Israeli law.”
In a statement on January 10, he said Israel will not “impose a ban on Jews purchasing private property in Jerusalem” and that Arabs can buy or rent property in Jewish neighbourhoods.