The international community does not recognize Israel’s sovereignty over all of Jerusalem. (file)
Jerusalem:
Russia’s embassy in Israel will open a branch office in Jerusalem as part of an agreement with the city, an official at the embassy and Israel’s foreign ministry said on Friday.
The Russian Embassy in Israel said in a statement that the deal on a land plot in West Jerusalem, which Russia had bought in 1885, was signed with Jerusalem’s municipality on May 18 after a year-long process. The property will be used for the construction of a complex of buildings that will serve the consular section of the embassy, the statement said.
The status of Jerusalem – home to holy sites for Christians, Jews and Muslims – is one of the biggest obstacles to reaching a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.
Israel, which captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed it, regards the city as its eternal and indivisible capital. The Palestinians want to make the eastern part of the city the capital of their future state.
The international community does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the entire city, believing that the status of Jerusalem should be resolved in negotiations.
While most foreign embassies are located in Tel Aviv, four opened in Jerusalem after the United States recognized the city as Israel’s capital in 2017.
The move, which reversed decades of US policy, has pleased Israel and angered Palestinians, who say it violates international law and could destroy prospects for an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.
At the time of former US President Donald Trump’s announcement, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed grave concern and said that “such moves could nullify the prospects of the Middle East peace process”.
But the Russian embassy statement on Friday said the opening of a branch office in Jerusalem “is in line with our country’s irreversible course towards a fair Middle East settlement”.
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