UK: Our consulate in East Jerusalem will remain open and continue operations as an independent mission
- Miliband: We will rebuild our presence in Jerusalem in the coming months... and we will not take similar measures
Britain announced on Thursday the temporary withdrawal of some of its diplomats and their families from its consulate general in occupied Jerusalem, due to the lack of security guarantees from the Israeli occupation authorities.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband confirmed in a press statement that the British consulate in Jerusalem will not close, and its name will be changed from Thursday to “the British Mission in Jerusalem.”
He stressed that the United Kingdom had been clear from the outset that it does not accept the Israeli occupation authorities’ legal right to close the British consulate general in Jerusalem, which has been open for nearly two centuries.
Miliband explained that the “British Mission in Jerusalem” is independent and “operational,” and will continue to provide essential services and work with the Palestinian people, noting that maintaining the mission’s operations, even with a minimal staff, will ensure the preservation of the UK’s firm presence and its role in supporting the two-state solution.
He noted that his ministry will work in the coming months to rebuild the British presence, and that no retaliatory measures will be taken against the Israeli occupation if ongoing discussions with it continue to be conducted in good faith.
Miliband reiterated his country’s commitment to the decisions and measures taken on September 8 last year, in coordination with the international community, to support the two-state solution and achieve peace, adding that the UK remains steadfast in its principled position that East Jerusalem is occupied territory.
It is recalled that the Israeli occupation threatened to close the British consulate in Jerusalem and expel its diplomats, in response to London’s decision to impose sanctions on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and ban trade with them.
