RAMALLAH, May 15, 2018 (WAFA) – Palestine’s ambassador to the European Union (EU), Abdul Rahim Farra, commended on Tuesday statements by the EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini opposing moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
Speaking on Voice of Palestine radio, Farra described the statement as powerful as it came out at the same time the Americans and Israelis were celebrating the opening of the embassy in Jerusalem.
He said Mogherini was very clear in the EU’s rejection of this move and its illegality, while adhering to the two-state solution.
Mogherini said in her statement that the European Union has a clear, consolidated position on Jerusalem, which was reaffirmed in numerous Foreign Affairs Council conclusions.
“The EU will continue to respect the international consensus on Jerusalem embodied in, inter alia, UN Security Council Resolution 478, including on the location of diplomatic representations until the final status of Jerusalem is resolved,” she said, stressing that the EU “remains firmly committed to continue working with both parties and with its partners in the international community towards a resumption of meaningful negotiations aimed at a two-state solution, based on the 4 June 1967 lines and with Jerusalem as capital of both.”
Farra, however, said that while the Palestinians appreciate the EU statement, they are not enough if not coupled with practical steps such as recognizing the State of Palestine.
The EU foreign policy chief had also called in the same statement for “utmost restraint” in Israel’s handling of protests at its border with Gaza.
“Israel must respect the right to peaceful protest and the principle of proportionality in the use of force,” she said, warning that “any further escalation of an already extremely tense and complex situation would cause again further unspeakable sufferings to both peoples, and will make the perspective of peace and security even more remote.”
The Israeli army killed at least 59 unarmed Palestinian civilians and wounded thousands others on Monday during protests against the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem and commemorating the 70th anniversary for the Palestinian Nakba, or catastrophe that led to their forced displacement from their homeland when Israel was created in 1948.
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