UK Insists East Jerusalem Mission Will Stay Open Under New Name Amid Closure Threats
By The Media Line Staff
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said Thursday that Britain’s 200-year-old consulate in East Jerusalem will remain open under a new name with sharply reduced staffing, after Israel ordered the mission closed in response to the UK’s complete ban on products from the West Bank.
The British Consulate General in Jerusalem will now operate as the UK Mission, Jerusalem, with 7 diplomats remaining from its previous staff of 27. The other 20 staff members will leave the country under an understanding reached between Britain and Israel.
Miliband announced the arrangement as Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s Thursday deadline for closing the consulate arrived.
Following discussions with Israel, Miliband said, “our Consulate General building will not be closing, and will be known as the UK Mission, Jerusalem from today.”
He said the renamed mission would continue to “deliver vital services and our work with the Palestinian people.”
Reuters journalists on Wednesday saw workers removing a plaque identifying the building as the “British Consulate General,” along with a separate sign marking its consular section. The British flag remained flying over the building.
Britain maintains that Israel does not have the legal authority to shut the mission because the British government considers the area “occupied” by Israel. London nevertheless decided against harsher retaliatory steps, including the expulsion of Israeli diplomats, as discussions between the two countries continue.
Israel’s order followed the UK’s decision to impose a complete ban on products from the West Bank.
When Miliband announced the sanctions in September, he accused “settler terrorists” of carrying out “ethnic cleansing.”
Sa’ar strongly rejected Miliband’s allegations, calling the accusations of ethnic cleansing “outrageous lies,” and warning that “measures against Israel will not go unanswered.”
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