Arab News | Jordan supports UK in its decision to keep diplomatic mission open in East Jerusalem

LONDON: Jordan affirmed its support on Thursday for the decision by the UK government to keep open its diplomatic mission in the contested city of East Jerusalem that serves Palestinians.

Early last month, Israel gave British authorities 30 days to close the consulate in retaliation for sweeping UK sanctions and a trade ban targeting goods produced in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Fuad Majali, a spokesperson for Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, denounced the “illegal” Israeli move, which threatened to shutter the diplomatic post in Shiekh Jarrah neighborhood, and rejected any attempts to disrupt its operations or compromise its diplomatic immunity, the Jordan News Agency reported.

“East Jerusalem is occupied Palestinian territory over which Israel holds no sovereignty,” he said.

On Wednesday, the day Israel’s 30-day deadline expired, the British foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, said that in a last-minute compromise agreement, the diplomatic mission would remain operational but be scaled down and renamed from Consulate General to UK Mission, Jerusalem.

“We have been clear that we do not accept that the Government of Israel has the legal right to close the British Consulate General in Jerusalem, which has been there for nearly 200 years,” Miliband said.

“The UK government reiterates its long-standing view that East Jerusalem is occupied territory. The UK Mission, Jerusalem is independent, operational and will continue to deliver vital services and our work with the Palestinian people.”

Britain’s diplomatic and missionary presence in Jerusalem dates back to 1838, when it established its first mission there under the short-lived Egyptian rule over the city.

Majali warned that the new operational arrangements “must not alter the legal status of East Jerusalem or be interpreted as an endorsement of Israeli sovereignty claims.”