Sharing Jerusalem

Jerusalem should serve as the capital of both Israel and a future Palestinian state, according to the foreign ministers of the EU.

The diplomats, who had met for two days of talks in Brussels, did not specify the means by which this would be accomplished, but they did indicate their desire to see Israelis and Palestinians reach a consensus at the negotiating table.

An earlier proposal forwarded by the Swedish EU presidency, recommending the creation of a Palestinian capital in East Jerusalem, was dropped from the statement after Israel labeled the idea "extreme."

Some members of the 27-nation bloc, including Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic, were wary of imposing a settlement on Palestine and Israel.

Negotiating a new nation

"We could not decide how a future Palestinian state would look before negotiations had ended," German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle said, adding that he had argued strongly to have the original wording dropped from the statement.

"That reflects the nature of Germany's special relationship with Israel," he said.

"To decide here in Brussels what the future status of Jerusalem should be would be very frustrating for the negotiators," said Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.

However, the collected foreign ministers did adopt a text urging that Jerusalem should serve as "the future capital of the two states."

The statement also reiterated that the EU does not recognize Israel's previous annexation of East Jerusalem and other territories.

"The EU will not recognize any changes to the pre-1967 borders, including those with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties," a joint statement of EU ministers read.

During the 1967 Six-Day war, Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, nad later annexed East Jerusalem and nearby suburbs.

Ignoring the facts?

The Palestinians welcomed the EU statement, with Nimr Hamad, a senior advisor to president Mahmud Abbas, calling it a "positive step."

Israel, despite welcoming the removal of the Swedish proposal, still responded unfavorably to the initiative from Brussels.

The statement "ignores the principle obstacle to achieving a settlement between Israel and the Palestinians: the Palestinians' refusal to return to the negotiating table," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor.

The EU "chose to adopt a text, which even if it contains nothing new, contributes nothing" to the goal of reviving peace negotiations, he said in a Hebrew press release.

The EU statement was also not warmly received in some quarters in the US.

EU members should join "responsible nations" in opposing any plans to recognise Arab east Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state, said Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the top Republican on th House of Representatives foreign affairs committee.

Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center commented, "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?"

sjt/dpa/AFP/AP
Editor: Susan Houlton