EU Rejects Trump’s Jerusalem Move

Israel, which annexed East Jerusalem after capturing it in a 1967 war, considers the entire city to be its capital while Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future independent state.
European Union (EU) is not going the direction of US President Donald Trump as regards the capital of Israel.

Trump had announced on December 6 that the U.S. would recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, breaking with decades of U.S. policy and international consensus that the ancient city’s status must be decided in Israeli-Palestinian talks.

Trump got the support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called on the EU to join the American president.

But EU foreign ministers on Monday in Brussels rejected Netanyahu’s request.

Israel, which annexed East Jerusalem after capturing it in a 1967 war, considers the entire city to be its capital while Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future independent state.

After a breakfast meeting between Netanyahu and EU foreign ministers, Sweden’s top diplomat said no European at the closed-door meeting had voiced support for Trump’s decision, and no country was likely to follow the U.S. in announcing plans to move its embassy.

“I have a hard time seeing that any other country would do that and I don’t think any other EU country will do it,” Margot Wallstrom said.

Several EU foreign ministers arriving at the meeting reiterated the bloc’s position that lands Israel has occupied since the 1967 war, including East Jerusalem as well as the West Bank and Golan Heights, are not within Israel’s borders.

Israel’s position does appear to have more support from some EU states than others.