EU refuses Israel on Jerusalem

Bloc breaks with U.S., urges peace talks for city’s status

Lebanese and Palestinians march Monday in a street in a southern suburb of Beirut with a Palestinian flag in response to a call by Hezbbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah to protest President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Lebanese and Palestinians march Monday in a street in a southern suburb of Beirut with a Palestinian flag in response to a call by Hezbbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah to protest President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

LONDON -- Emboldened by President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday paid the first visit to the European Union headquarters by an Israeli prime minister in 22 years, seeking a similar endorsement from the 28-nation bloc.

The answer, though, was a clear no.

The bloc's members are not unified in their attitudes toward Israel, but the EU's official position is that it supports what Federica Mogherini, its foreign policy chief, called the "international consensus" from which Trump departed last week when he announced a reversal of decades of U.S. diplomacy.

The EU, she said, remains committed to a two-state settlement for the Israelis and the Palestinians, with "Jerusalem as the capital of both." The bloc is the biggest provider of aid to the Palestinians.

Both Netanyahu and European officials referred to White House plans to begin a new effort for peace in the Middle East. The Israeli leader also expressed optimism that other countries would follow the U.S.' decision on Jerusalem.

"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," Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu on Sunday met with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris before flying on to Brussels. France said the status of Jerusalem could only be worked out in a final settlement between Israelis and Palestinians to resolve their decades-old disputes.

After meeting with EU foreign ministers, Netanyahu said in a statement that recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital "doesn't obviate peace, it makes peace possible, because recognizing reality is the substance of peace, it's the foundation of peace."

Trump's move last week set off protests in many parts of the Islamic world and led to airstrikes on Gaza after Palestinian militants fired missiles into Israel. In the latest of those skirmishes, Israeli planes and tanks shelled the Palestinian territory Monday after a rocket strike. No injuries were reported.

Cross-border exchanges since Trump's announcement have left at least four Palestinians dead.

Netanyahu castigated the EU over the weekend for what he said was its "hypocrisy" in criticizing Trump but not the rocket attacks or incitement against Israel.

Mogherini said she wished to "condemn in the strongest possible way all attacks on Jews everywhere in the world, including in Europe and on Israel and on Israeli citizens."

Among the EU members, several smaller countries -- including Hungary and the Czech Republic -- favor a closer bond with Israel. Last week, the Czech Republic said it would consider moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem but then seemed to retreat, saying it accepted Israel's sovereignty over only the western part of Jerusalem.

Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek said Monday that Trump's announcement last week "can't help us."

"I am convinced that it is impossible to ease tension with a unilateral solution," Zaoralek said, according to Reuters, as he and other European foreign ministers gathered for breakfast with Netanyahu. "We are talking about an Israeli state, but at the same time a Palestinian state."

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the Europeans had been waiting several months for the new U.S. peace plan and were growing weary of waiting. "If one is not forthcoming," he said, "the European Union will have to take the initiative."

Elsewhere, tens of thousands of Lebanese and Palestinians attended a Hezbollah rally Monday in Beirut, where the militant group's leader vowed to return the focus to Israel after years of fighting in Syria's civil war.

Chanting "Oh America, you are the Great Satan," while pumping their fists in the air, men, women and children marched through streets of Hezbollah's southern Beirut stronghold carrying Lebanese and Palestinian flags, as well as the militant group's yellow banners.

At the rally, called in protest against Trump's Jerusalem policy, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said he hoped the "foolish decision" would mark the "beginning of the end" of the Jewish state.

Nasrallah said his group is almost done fighting extremists elsewhere in the region and will now "give all its time" to Jerusalem and the Palestinians. "Death to Israel!" he said in the fiery address, which was broadcast from an undisclosed location and shown on big screens at the rally.

Hezbollah forced Israeli troops out of southern Lebanon in 2000, and the group battled Israel to a stalemate six years later. The Iranian-backed militant group is believed to have a large arsenal of rockets capable of hitting much of Israel's territory, and its battle-hardened fighters played a key role in turning the tide of Syria's civil war in favor of President Bashar Assad.

Information for this article was contributed by Alan Cowell of The New York Times and by Bassem Mroue, Sarah El Deeb and staff members of The Associated Press.

A Section on 12/12/2017

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