Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought EU support and urged the Union to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel after the President of the U.S. did so last week. But, EU ministers did not like Donald Trump’s move and even the closest allies that Israel has in the EU doubt that Trump’s decisions are helpful.
In the meantime, Netanyahu thinks that Trump’s move made peace in the Middle East possible because, as he said, “recognizing reality is the substance of peace, the foundation of peace,” Reuters reports.
The Czech Republic is one of Israel’s closest allies in the EU, but nonetheless, Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek said Trump’s decision to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem couldn’t help them. At the same time, France insisted that the status of Jerusalem could only be defined in a final deal between Israelis and Palestinians.
Yet, according to Netanyahu, Trump’s move should be emulated by the Palestinians and Europe.
“It’s time that the Palestinians recognize the Jewish state and also recognize the fact that it has a capital. It’s called Jerusalem. I believe that, even though we don’t have an agreement yet, this is what will happen in the future. I believe that all, or most of the European countries will move their embassies to Jerusalem, recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and engage robustly with us for security, prosperity, and peace,” he said.
The Czech foreign ministry said a few days ago that it would consider the option to move the Czech Embassy to Jerusalem, but Prague later said that it accepted Israel’s sovereignty only over West Jerusalem.
“I‘m convinced that it is impossible to ease tension with a unilateral solution. We are talking about an Israeli state but at the same time we have to speak about a Palestinian state,” Zaoralek said in Brussels.
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