The British government already owns land west of Jerusalem for the purpose of building a new embassy in Israel, according to a memo sent to Conservative pro-Israel MPs by the website. Middle Eastern eye had access.
The note was issued by the lobby group Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) A review of the British embassy’s location was announced last month as part of a campaign to back the controversial decision by Prime Minister Liz Truss.
James Kurt, director of the CFI, last Saturday sent a memo to lawmakers putting forward the Jerusalem case to voters ahead of this week’s party conference in Birmingham, with a “suggested case response.”
MEE accessed both documents.
The brief notes that the move to move the British Embassy in Tel Aviv from its current location to Jerusalem would “recognize bureaucracy and concrete reality”.
He also says he knows “the British government already has land west of Jerusalem for an embassy” – revealing that Liz Truss may be ready to start the transition the moment she gets the chance.
‘A Great Zionist’
The CFI describes its twin goals as “supporting Israel and promoting conservatism in the UK”.
He claims to be active at all levels of the Conservative Party and is believed to comprise 80% of its membership of Conservative MPs.
On Sunday, Truss and other cabinet ministers attended an event organized by the CFI to mark the start of the party’s conference, telling attendees that he was a “big Zionist and a big supporter of Israel.”
In the CFI’s annual newsletter published in conjunction with the conference, Truss said: “I understand the importance and sensitivity of the location of the British Embassy in Israel. A strong base within Israel.”
Speaking at a CFI event on Sunday, Conservative Party leader Jack Perry appeared to anticipate the outcome of Truss’s review when he pledged his “unwavering commitment as party leader to continue building strong ties with the State of Israel in its fight to ensure that it is safe and that the capital in Jerusalem is home to our new embassy.” Support it.
Health Minister Robert Jenrick also pointed to land owned by the UK government on which the embassy could be built.
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Jenrick said: “We have a place in Jerusalem. It is time for us to take responsibility and build this embassy and recognize that the real capital of the State of Israel is obviously Jerusalem.
The IFC provided a sample letter for lawmakers to send to voters: “I welcome Prime Minister Liz Truss’ commitment to reconsider the location of the British Embassy in Israel.”
A spokesman for the CFI dismissed MEE’s suggestion that the organization had been canvassing Conservative lawmakers in favor of the change.
A spokesman said: “This is the kind of one-page information note we send on any matter.”
IFC President Eric Pickles told MEE: “The embassy move is fully compatible with the two-state solution and does not make final border decisions. It is a very moderate move.”
Dramatic twist
The Truss’ decision to reconsider the embassy’s location represents a dramatic departure from long-standing British government policy that has prevailed under every prime minister from Margaret Thatcher to Boris Johnson.
Former UK Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the move in no uncertain terms, noting in a statement released in December 2017 in response to the US government’s decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem: “We believe it is counterproductive in terms of prospects for peace in the region. … In accordance with relevant Security Council resolutions, the occupied Palestinian territories of East Jerusalem We consider it a part of the regions”.
The British government reaffirmed his position in December 2021.
“The UK’s position on the status of Jerusalem is clear and long-standing: it must be determined in a negotiated Israeli-Palestinian agreement,” the UK’s political coordinator at the UN said in a speech, adding that the UK “opposes unilateral action. Absent a final status agreement, it continues to support the historic status of Jerusalem.” .
Avi Shlaim, professor of international relations at Oxford University, supported this long-held view of the British government when he wrote in MEE last week: “Moving the embassy to Jerusalem would violate many UN resolutions and amount to a sudden reversal of British policy. Since 1967″.
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“This policy is part of a broader international consensus that all embassies should remain in Tel Aviv until a comprehensive peace agreement is reached between Israel and the Palestinians, with Jerusalem as the joint capital of the two countries,” Shlaim added.
An IFC briefing note disputes this, saying that moving the embassy to Jerusalem “will not prevent the Palestinians from establishing their capital in East Jerusalem in the future, or change the UK’s long-standing view that the future status of the city should be an issue”. Bilateral negotiations will be held between the Israelis and the Palestinians.
He adds: “Under any realistic two-state solution, West Jerusalem would remain under Israeli rule — a position long accepted in decades of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.”
He noted that the United States recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, as well as “Taiwan, Nauru, Honduras, Guatemala and Kosovo.”
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohamed Shtayyeh said last Monday that the diplomatic move would “encourage” the “occupational power” and “undermining” the possibility of a two-state solution.
Article originally published in English Middle Eye East On October 4, 2022
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Middle East Monitor editorial policy.
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