PA: Kouchner weakened EU declaration on Jerusalem

Ma'an
A top Palestinian Authority (PA) official criticized French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Tuesday evening for weakening a Swedish proposal on the status of Jerusalem during the EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels.

...."We consider his attitude to be contradicting that of the French president, who said more than once that East Jerusalem was part of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967," Abdul-Rahim added in a statement.

Abdul-Rahim said that because of Kouchner’s position, the EU foreign ministers watered down the original Swedish draft statement, such that the final statement does not take a "clear position" on the borders of a Palestinian state.

He said this lack of clarity would allow Israel to continue avoiding the implementation of international resolutions that recognize Jerusalem as part of the Palestinian territories Israel occupied in 1967.

......"Kouchner should not have adopted such a stance which agrees with Israeli plans to weaken the Swedish proposal which clearly talks about Jerusalem as capital of the Palestinian state,”...

Israel on Tuesday expressed satisfaction over the EU foreign ministers’ rejection of the Swedish proposal...

Instead, the final draft included the milder formulation that "a way must be found through negotiations to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the future capital of two states." Full story