In retaliation for last month’s announcement by the UK government that sanctions will be imposed on Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank, the government of Israel declared that it would force the closure of the British Consulate General in East Jerusalem.
The Israeli government’s threat was both petulant and something it had no right to do. East Jerusalem is not part of Israel. It is Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967. The International Court of Justice has declared that the occupation is itself unlawful.
In a deal agreed between Israel and the UK last week, it has been agreed that the number of British diplomats in East Jerusalem will be reduced and the name of the building changed from “UK Consulate General” to “UK Mission”. These are regrettable but probably pragmatic consequences of avoiding escalating confrontation over this issue.
However, the key point is not what the UK’s building in East Jerusalem is called. The most important things are what it represents and what it does.
By remaining open with a diplomatic presence independent of the UK’s Embassy to Israel in Tel Aviv, the building remains a physical demonstration that the UK government does not accept Israel’s claim to jurisdiction over East Jerusalem. It will also continue to be a key channel of communication between the UK and the State of Palestine and its people, as well as providing support services to UK nationals over there.
These are key roles for Britain’s diplomatic presence in East Jerusalem and I urge UK ministers to bring the numbers of diplomats there back to full strength as soon as possible. Britain’s official diplomatic presence in East Jerusalem dates back 200 years. While the deal that the British and Israeli governments did last week was probably necessary to break the immediate impasse and avert tit-for-tat retaliations, it cannot be a long-term solution. The UK recognises Palestine as a state in its own right and it is not acceptable for the UK’s diplomatic presence there to be permanently downgraded at the insistence of an occupying power that has no legitimate sovereignty over East Jerusalem or any other part of the West Bank.
Let’s be clear though. If Israeli ministers hoped that their threat to close the Consulate General would persuade the UK government to back away from upholding international law and acting against the building of illegal settlements, it has transparently failed to do so.
Britain has taken an important lead on the international stage by announcing a ban on trade with settlements as well as on financial services that are complicit with Israel’s attempts to deepen its illegal occupation. A major test of the resolve of the UK and allies like Canada and France who have also resolved to act against Israel’s illegal actions will come in the next few weeks with plans to construct what Israel has called the E1 settlement.
Zoned to be built on countryside east of Jerusalem, E1 will not only dispossess Palestinian communities for whom the area has been home for generations. It will also cut the West Bank in two, making a contiguous Palestinian state impossible. Indeed, Israeli ministers have explicitly said that the purpose of E1 is to prevent a Palestinian state ever being created.
Tenders for E1 contracts were invited by the Government of Israel some seeks ago and are scheduled to be opened after Israel’s general election on 27 October. Any Israeli banks and contractors currently tempted to submit tenders for the E1 settlement project that is designed to make a contiguous Palestinian state impossible must therefore be left in no doubt. They can finance and build E1 or they can do business internationally. They cannot do both.
