Brussels and the countries of the European Union must oppose "unequivocally" the plans and legal initiatives to unilaterally alter the status and borders of Jerusalem, where Israel has "drastically" accelerated in the last year the pressure on the Palestinian population. It is one of the messages that the diplomatic representatives in East Jerusalem and Ramallah of almost all the Member States – plus the Community delegate – transfer to the Foreign Service in Brussels in a confidential report to which EL PAÍS has had access.
In their latest annual report on the city, the European heads of mission to the Palestinian Authority (in Jerusalem and Ramallah) warn that the events of 2022 "highlighted the growing fragility of the Palestinian presence in Jerusalem, the exacerbation of the socio-economic conditions of Palestinians and the need for their protection." This is the case of its "separation from the political, social and economic life of the city", of the demolitions of homes, of the construction of new houses in settlements and of the plans to create new ones in the east of the city, which Israel took in the Six-Day War of 1967 and subsequently annexed.
Diplomatic representatives also highlight the "significant" increase in arrests and operations by Israeli security forces; "pressure on Palestinian institutions" such as schools; the erosion of the status quo on the Esplanade of the Mosques or the increasing attacks on holy sites of Christianity. They are "general trends", they clarify, already pointed out on previous occasions, but that "worsened" in 2022. Some of the main points have been repeated for years.
Despite the noise generated by the return to power of Benjamin Netanyahu in coalition with the extreme right and the ultra-Orthodox, 2022 has already left – with the previous government of Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid – figures of deaths in the West Bank and construction in settlements unprecedented in two decades. Netanyahu's new government did not take office until December 29.
Palestinians (about 340,000) make up 38.5% of the city's population, but only 15% of the municipal budget goes to their neighbourhoods. Only 45% are properly and legally connected to the drinking water system, recalls the document, which is supported by 21 of the 23 member states with representation in Jerusalem or Ramallah.
All except Budapest and Prague
Hungary and the Czech Republic, which considered the language of the text too belligerent towards Israel, are missing, explains a European diplomatic source. They are two countries with governments close to Israel. Prague opened, in fact, in Jerusalem in 2021 a branch of its Embassy in Tel Aviv, and every few months reports resurface, from anonymous sources, that the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, is preparing to break the community deck and become the first EU country to move its Embassy to Jerusalem.
The document insists on the importance of "the location of diplomatic missions in accordance with United Nations resolution 478," that is, the one that condemned in 1980 the annexation of East Jerusalem and the declaration of the city as the "unified" capital of Israel. This closing of ranks has been particularly important since 2017, when the then president of the United States, Donald Trump, recognized the city as the capital of Israel and moved the Embassy there in Tel Aviv. His successor, Joe Biden, has not reversed this important and symbolic measure, which the EU rejects considering – like almost all other countries – that it is up to the parties to negotiate the status of the city in a peace dialogue.
Diplomatic representatives also point to the danger of completing a settlement ring that would isolate Jerusalem from the West Bank. They also warn of the use — by Israeli authorities and settler organizations — of archaeology and tourism with the apparent aim of "strengthening the narrative about Jewish and Bible-inspired Jerusalem." This is the case of the City of David, in the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan, at the foot of the walled citadel, which is in the hands of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, but manages an ultranationalist foundation. The diplomatic representatives advocate raising this issue both bilaterally and in international forums and supporting, in parallel, a Palestinian tourism strategy in the east of the city, where key religious and tourist monuments are located, such as the Esplanade of the Mosques or the Holy Sepulchre.
The document also recalls that six Palestinians have lost residency in Jerusalem under a legal amendment approved in 2018. The vast majority of East Jerusalem residents have a permanent residence permit issued by Israel. That year, Parliament gave the Interior Ministry the power to revoke those who have committed attacks, endangered public security or "betrayed the State of Israel." The latest was French-Palestinian human rights lawyer Salah Hamouri, deported to France last December.
Among the measures they ask to "consider" in the annex of recommendations, there are two related to border policy. One is to bar entry to "known violent settlers and those who call for acts of violence." The other, to apply the principle of reciprocity with "discriminatory Israeli practices with visas that restrict the freedom of movement of EU citizens."
The Silent Death of Judicial Reform
Demonstration against judicial reform and Netanyahu's government in Tel Aviv on Sunday.Ronen Zvulun (REUTERS)
Four ministers from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party have admitted to the Yediot Aharonot newspaper that the controversial judicial reform is virtually "dead."
Pressured by the demonstrations, the messages from Washington and the growing extension of the protest within the Armed Forces, Netanyahu announced last March the postponement of the reform to the current parliamentary session, which ends in July. Since then, the government and opposition have been negotiating a consensus text. According to the ministers, Netanyahu is letting time pass with no intention of making it a reality, surrounded, on the one hand, by the force of the demonstrations and, on the other, by his Minister of Justice, Yariv Levin, and by the extreme right, which are pressing for it to move forward.
"As far as he is concerned, negotiations could continue into eternity," one of them says ironically. Following the information of the newspaper, the head of Government has assured this Monday in an internal meeting of the formation that he believes in continuing to negotiate, but the initiative "is not dead".
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