EU Business 08 Dicembre 2009

BRUSSELS - EU foreign ministers were seeking common ground Tuesday on the vexed issue of a future Palestinian state, after an initial proposal that east Jerusalem should be the capital angered Israel.

Luxembourg's foreign minister Jean Asselborn was one of those stoking the controversy.

East Jerusalem is "not part of Israel," he said after the Swedish EU presidency included the idea of east Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state in a draft text for European Union foreign ministers to agree.

"I support the Swedish proposal very strongly. We should abide by our principles," Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb echoed as he arrived for a second day of talks with his EU counterparts in Brussels Tuesday.

Others, including Germany and Italy, are more hesitant about appearing to try to foist a solution on the Middle East peace process, and the text was duly watered down.

"We support anything which encourages the two parties to sit down at the negotiating table again," Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Monday.

In the initial version of the statement, EU nations spoke in favour of "a viable state of Palestine comprising the West Bank and Gaza and with east Jerusalem as its capital."

Such wording angered Israel whose foreign ministry said it harmed Europe's ability to play a mediating role in the Middle East.

A subsequent version of the draft text, which was being discussed by the EU foreign ministers Tuesday, dropped the explicit reference to east Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

However the revised text still talked of a contiguous Palestinian state including the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

That compromise could leave Europe with the worst of all worlds, still raising Israeli ire while deflating Palestinian hopes.

"A way must be found, through negotiations, to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the future capital of two states," according to the revised text, seen by AFP, which itself remained subject to change.

"We managed to soften the text by insisting that the status of Jerusalem should be the result of negotiations," an EU diplomat said.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat wrote an open letter to new EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton warning of the possible consequences of splitting up the city which Israelis view as the indivisible and eternal capital of the Jewish state.

"Throughout the history of the world, there is not one important city that was divided that functioned successfully. They either reunited or ceased to function properly. The lesson is too clear. Jerusalem must stay united," he argued.

The EU initiative also raised some hackles in the United States.

EU members should join "responsible nations" in opposing any plan to recognize Arab east Jerusalem as capital of a future Palestinian state, a key US lawmaker said.

"Any move to divide Jerusalem would undermine our ally Israel, deal a blow to religious freedom, and undercut the cause of peace," said Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center also criticized the EU draft resolution.

"Once again the EU is rushing with a laundry list of what's expected from Israel, but when will the European Union finally demand action from the Palestinians?," asked Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Jewish human rights group.

Scores of Palestinians protested in front of the French and Swedish consulates in Jerusalem on Monday to support the EU presidency's initiative on east Jerusalem.

A confidential report by EU heads of mission in Jerusalem last week accused Israel of actively pursuing the annexation of the city's east and undermining hopes for peace with Palestinians.

Source >  EU Business | dec 08