Israel’s foreign minister says the consul general and 20 diplomats are leaving the British consulate in occupied East Jerusalem, while the UK government insists the building “will not be closing” and will instead operate as the UK Mission, Jerusalem.
Gideon Saar said on social media that the consulate had carried out the closure order within 30 days, one of a series of measures Israel announced on 8 September in retaliation for UK sanctions on Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law. “We did not want it to come to this,” he wrote.
The consul general and 20 diplomats, including the consul general, are ending their duties and will leave Israel, Saar said. He acknowledged that the building is the property of the British government, and said Israel had authorised a task force of only seven diplomats with a very limited scope of activity to work from it. As a result of the agreement with the UK, he said, “no steps will be taken against Israel”.
Saar posted on X that the consulate was closing its operations and that its sign had been removed. A British flag could still be seen outside the building on Thursday morning, and several staff were seen entering.
UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband responded that a number of staff had been temporarily withdrawn for security and safety reasons, and stressed that the mission would continue “our work with the Palestinian people”. He reiterated the UK’s long-standing view that East Jerusalem is occupied territory, and said Israel had no legal right to close the consulate.
The foreign secretary said an understanding had not been reached on necessary assurances for the security and protections of staff and premises, and that the UK would work in the coming months to build its presence back up. He added that the UK would not take reciprocal action while such discussions were underway and credible. Seven UK diplomats remaining in Jerusalem would be independent and operational, he said, and would keep delivering vital services and work with the Palestinian people.
The consulate, founded in 1838, handles UK relations with Palestinians in Jerusalem as well as in the West Bank and Gaza. It is distinct from the UK embassy in Tel Aviv, the UK’s main diplomatic hub with Israel, which is not affected.
Asked by the BBC’s Today programme whether the arrangement amounted to a political fudge, Foreign Office Minister Stephen Doughty said: “You can see what’s changed in terms of a name but crucially our presence remains”. He said policies towards the Israeli government, which the UK fundamentally disagrees with, would continue.
British officials are confident that the newly named UK Mission, Jerusalem remains a diplomatic premise formally protected under the Vienna Convention. The remaining diplomats retain the privileges and immunities the consul general held, are accredited with the Israeli authorities as before and can work and travel in the same way as previously, the officials say.
The mission will keep providing a wide range of services with a smaller team, including supporting British nationals and engaging with Palestinian people and institutions. Because the deal was agreed only on Wednesday night, much detail remained to be worked out.
Sources described the agreement as a political success, since the UK had not backed down on its sanctions on illegal settlements, had kept a diplomatic presence in East Jerusalem and had avoided a tit-for-tat expulsion of diplomats from London and Tel Aviv. The UK Mission will also remain entirely separate from the UK embassy in Tel Aviv, they said.
Officials said the continued presence of British diplomats on the ground would reinforce the principle that international representation should continue in East Jerusalem. It was British officials who took the sign down from the consulate, and the diplomats who left have gone to other locations in the region to carry on their work from there.
Israeli media had reported earlier in the week that the UK was threatening to expel Israeli diplomats from London.
The disagreement now appears to have been parked until after the Israeli elections at the end of the month. The UK side wanted to prevent the dispute being “instrumentalized” by any political party during the campaign, but says negotiations will continue in the coming months and that the threat of British retaliation remains firmly on the table.
COMMENTS