LONDON: Israel lacks a legal right to enforce its plan to close the British Consulate in East Jerusalem, a former attorney general has advised the UK Foreign Office, The Guardian reported on Monday.
Tel Aviv had said it plans to close the site on Oct. 8 in response to the UK’s trade ban on goods from illegal Israeli settlements, announced by Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband earlier this month.
On Sunday, Israel responded to a similar move by the Netherlands by pledging to revoke the credentials of Dutch diplomats from the country’s mission to Palestine.
Dominic Grieve, a Conservative MP between 1997 and 2019 and attorney general from 2010 to 2014, said Israel does not have the right to close the consulate because of its location.
East Jerusalem is recognized by the UN and most of its member states — including the UK — as being occupied Palestinian territory.
In the House of Lords, former UK Ambassador Lord Hannay challenged Foreign Office Minister Lord Wood over the legality of Israel’s proposed closure.
The latter conceded that Lord Hannay was more knowledgeable about the subject, but voiced his fear that Israel could de facto render the consulate inoperable.
Grieve urged the UK government to challenge any Israeli decision in the courts, saying it is proposing to use a right it does not have given its status as an occupying power.
The UK mission in Jerusalem was founded in 1838, more than 100 years before the creation of Israel. The site is separate from the UK Embassy in Tel Aviv.
Reporting directly to the Foreign Office, the consul general in East Jerusalem has their own staff and a distinct diplomatic role covering Jerusalem, the rest of the West Bank and Gaza.
Grieve, in an advisory paper delivered to the Foreign Office by the British Palestine Project, said: “Retaining a consulate general in East Jerusalem after recognition of the state of Palestine preserves the UK’s position that Jerusalem’s final status remains to be determined. It does not concede Israeli sovereignty.”
The UK government has a duty to oppose Israel’s proposed move, he added, highlighting the government’s formal acceptance of the International Court of Justice’s 2024 advisory opinion urging countries to recognize Israel’s presence in the Occupied Territories as unlawful.
The closure of the consulate is also aimed at undermining Palestinians because it would interrupt aid, oversight and reporting from the Occupied Territories, Grieve said, adding: “Israel’s method in the city (Jerusalem) has been to create facts on the ground through unlawful settlement building and property seizure, and to press states to recognise those facts diplomatically.
“The closure should be challenged as a further attempt to exercise powers outwith those permitted to an occupier.”
The UN has explicitly denied that Israel possesses sovereignty over the city. The military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza means diplomats require Israeli accreditation to operate in Palestine.
In 2024, Israel took measures against Norwegian diplomats that it is now preparing to use against Dutch officials.
It came in response to Oslo’s formal recognition of Palestine, with the country being forced to close its mission in the West Bank town of Al-Ram.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said at the time: “We consider the Netanyahu government’s decision to be extreme and unreasonable.”
Since then, Norwegian diplomats based in neighboring Jordan have supported their country’s relations with Palestine.