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UK Renames East Jerusalem Consulate to Mission Amid Israeli Diplomatic Row

3:14 AM ETConfirmed

World Desk

In Short: The United Kingdom has renamed its consulate in East Jerusalem to a UK Mission, averting a diplomatic crisis with Israel over sanctions on Israeli settlements.

On Thursday, workers removed the plaque reading “British Consulate General” from the building in East Jerusalem, as the deadline for the consulate's closure expired.

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband announced that the consulate building would not close but would instead be known as the UK Mission, Jerusalem, remaining independent and operational.

The consulate, established in 1838, handles Britain’s relations with Palestinians in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza.

Israel had ordered the consulate to close within 30 days after Britain announced sanctions targeting Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Miliband said Britain would not take reciprocal action against Israel while the two sides engage in talks, despite speculation that Britain could expel some Israeli diplomats.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel had authorized Britain to continue operating from the building in a limited scope with seven diplomats.

The consulate's closure order affects around 30 British diplomats along with their family members, but some will be allowed to continue working in the building under a deal struck between Israel and Britain.

The British flag was still flying over the building as dawn broke over Jerusalem, signaling the continuation of Britain's presence in the city.

The UK Foreign Office reaffirmed Britain’s position that East Jerusalem is occupied territory, and that the UK Mission, Jerusalem, will continue to deliver vital services and work with the Palestinian people.

Israel's order for the consulate to shut was retaliation for Britain saying it would impose a ban on the trade of goods made in Israeli settlements.

The United Kingdom and Israel announced an agreement that would allow the nearly 200-year-old British consulate in East Jerusalem to remain operational at a smaller scale, but would see 20 UK diplomats working there leave the country.

Miliband said his country does not accept that Israel has the legal right to close the consulate, and that the UK Mission, Jerusalem, will continue to support a two-state solution.

What this adds

Background

What's confirmed

• Israel had ordered the ‌British consulate in East Jerusalem to close on Thursday over London’s plans to impose sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
• Earlier, journalists from the Reuters news agency saw ‌workers remove a plaque reading “British Consulate General” from the building on Thursday, as well as another sign for its consular section.
• He said ⁠Britain would not ⁠take any reciprocal action against Israel while the two sides engage in ‌talks, following speculation that Britain could expel some Israeli ‌diplomats ‌from Britain.
• Miliband said ⁠that having withdrawn ⁠a number of staff and families in recent weeks, Britain would now ⁠work to build up their presence.
• Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Thursday Israel had authorised Britain to continue to operate from the building in a limited scope with seven diplomats.
• The consulate, in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, handles Britain’s relations with Palestinians in Jerusalem, as well as in the West Bank and Gaza.
• Israel has been adamant the consulate will close even as Britain sought to keep it open, including sending the country’s top national security adviser to Israel last week for talks.
• Israel ordered Britain to close the consulate within 30 days and remove its diplomats from the city after Labour announced sanctions targeting Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including a trade ban on goods made there.
• Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the British Consul General and 20 diplomats would leave Israel, while the mission’s operations in Jerusalem would be limited to seven staff members.
• Miliband said his country does not accept that Israel has the legal right to close the consulate.
• "We established a clear principle: It is not possible to act against Israel without Israel taking appropriate measures in response," Saar said, adding, "We did not want to reach this point, but the actions of the UK Labour government brought us here." Saar also accused Britain of "false accusations against Israel," including of "ethnic cleansing." Israel issued a 30-day deadline on Sept.
• “This will ensure that we maintain our longstanding British presence and the U.K.’s role in support of a two-state solution,” Miliband added.

What's still developing

• The consulate has been in Jerusalem since around 1839, according to the National Library of Israel, when the area was part of the Ottoman Empire and long before Israel's establishment in 1948.
• Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed it in 1980, coming to control the entire city.
• Britain's embassy in Israel, like most countries', is in Tel Aviv, which is also home to some government departments.
• "The British Consulate in Jerusalem is closing its operations today. Accordingly, the sign of the British Consulate in Jerusalem has been removed," he wrote on social media.
• Reporting from London, Al Jazeera’s Camille Nedelec said the downgrading of the consulate to a mission marks “a low point in UK-Israeli relations”.
• According to an unsourced Ynet report on Monday, Britain had warned Israel that it could expel 27 Israeli diplomats from the embassy in London if Israel follows through on its decision to close the consulate, where 27 British diplomats work.
• Israel has announced that Colombia will open an embassy in Jerusalem, becoming the latest country to establish a diplomatic mission in the disputed city claimed as a capital by Israelis and Palestinians.
• “We will work hard because this is the diplomatic battle over the truth. And the truth is, Jerusalem was always the capital of one nation,” Saar said, dismissing Palestinian claims to the capital.
• The announcement comes as a small but growing list of countries has opted to route their diplomatic ties with Israel through Jerusalem.
• Other countries that have diplomatic relations with Israel have located their embassies in Tel Aviv, as Jerusalem is not recognised by the international community as Israel’s capital.
• “Next Wednesday, we are going to inaugurate … the Colombian embassy,” Saar told attendees at a conference in Jerusalem.
• The Israeli minister said the Democratic Republic of the Congo would open its embassy in Jerusalem “very soon” and hinted at another opening.

Sources

• Al-Monitorlink
• Arabnewslink
• Gbnewslink
• Türkiye Todaylink
• Wrallink
• Fox Newslink
• Arabnewslink
• Jtalink
• WarpBeat — background on UK Renames East Jerusalem Consulate to Mission Amid Israeli Diplomatic Row link
• WarpBeat — background on Britain Removes Consulate Signs in East Jerusalem as Israeli Shutdown Order Expires link
• Wikipedia — background on East Jerusalem link
• Al Jazeera English — video link