Israeli mayor rejects EU Jerusalem resolution

Ma'an
Israel's mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, on Monday called on the European Union to reject a resolution brought forth by Sweden that would recognize East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.

In a letter to EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton, Barkat argued that the Swedish proposal would divide Jerusalem and nullify the EU's "right to serve as an honest mediator."

The European Union's foreign affairs ministers were scheduled to vote Monday or Tuesday on the resolution, which recalls that their countries have never recognized the annexation of East Jerusalem and urges the reopening of Palestinian institutions there.

The document, first obtained by the Israeli daily Haaretz, also calls on the Israeli government "to cease all discriminatory treatment of Palestinians in East Jerusalem."

........Israel occupied East Jerusalem in 1967, annexing the Palestinian city and declaring it its "undivided, eternal capital." Such claims were never recognized abroad, and most countries' embassies to Israel are in Tel Aviv.

According to Barkat, the city belongs to adherents of all monotheistic faiths, but particularly to Jews.

.....Israeli criticism of the EU resolution was not universal, however. The country's peace bloc, Gush Shalom, rejected as false the assertion that making Jerusalem the capital of to states would constitute division, since Jerusalem in its present situation "is a divided city whose two parts are divided by a deep abyss."

"Jerusalem is not a united city. Nir Barkat is the democratically-elected mayor of West Jerusalem and the imposed ruler of East Jerusalem, where he is assisting Jewish settlers to throw Arab inhabitants to the street. Jerusalem can only be united out of the free will of the two peoples who live in it, which would only be possible after the end of Israeli occupation," Gush Shalom said.

The movement called on EU ministers to proclaim Jerusalem the mutual capital of Palestine and Israel.

"Our Jerusalem must be the capital of the two states that will live side by side in this country - West Jerusalem the capital of the State of Israel and East Jerusalem the capital of the State of Palestine," the movement demanded in a statement sent to all 27 EU foreign ministries and their respective embassies in Israel.

Proclaiming Jerusalem as the capital of two states, the movement added, "would be a desirable and positive act for Israelis, for Palestinians, for peace and the future of all who live in this region. The EU's step would at last allow embassies to move to West Jerusalem. The government of Israel should have been the first to promote this idea." Full story