Britain will rename its Jerusalem consulate the UK Mission and keep a smaller staff after Israel ordered the post closed over West Bank settlement sanctions. Israel said 20 diplomats, including the consul general, will leave.
Britain and Israel said on Thursday that the British diplomatic post in Jerusalem, founded in 1839, will stay open at a smaller scale and under a new name. Britain will call the building the UK Mission, Jerusalem. Israel had given a 30-day deadline last month to close the consulate after London announced sanctions on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including a ban on trade in goods from there.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the consulate would formally end operations and that its sign had been removed. He said 20 diplomats, including the consul general, would leave, while seven could remain with a very limited scope of activity. The BBC quoted him saying Israel did not want it to come to this.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband said that, after talks with Israel, the consulate-general building will not be closing and will be known as the UK Mission from Thursday. He said it would continue to deliver vital services and work with the Palestinian people. He restated the UK view that East Jerusalem is occupied territory.
The post is separate from the British embassy in Tel Aviv. Reuters described the arrangement as a last-minute compromise that headed off a larger break between the allies. Britain said the diplomats were withdrawn temporarily and that it aims to scale the mission back up.
The change is a rename and a staffing cut. Neither government reported a break in diplomatic relations.
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- Gideon Saar said the consulate is ending operations and that 20 diplomats including the consul general will leave.
- David Miliband said the building will not close and will operate as the UK Mission, Jerusalem.