The Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ministry on Thursday summoned the head of the Czech Republic’s Representative Office to Palestine Petr Starý, demanding clarifications on the Czech Foreign Ministry’s announcement that a diplomat from its embassy in Tel Aviv will be posted at its new honorary consulate in Jerusalem.
Acting on behalf of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Foreign Minister Riyad Malki, Undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry Amal Jadou expressed the PA’s denunciation of this step, which, as she put it, constitutes a blatant violation of international law, and a breakaway from the European unified position on the legal status of Jerusalem, as well as “an encroachment upon the Palestinian people’s rights and sovereignty over its territories.”
She demanded the Czech Republic reverse this serious step which would have serious implications on regional stability and the political efforts aimed at achieving Middle East peace.
On Wednesday, Israel welcomed the Czech Republic’s announcement, which was delivered by the Czech Ambassador to Israel Martin Stropnicky to the head of the Foreign Ministry’s strategic planning department Alon Bar.
Stropnicky said opening the diplomatic mission in Jerusalem fulfills a promise made by Czech President Milos Zaman some two years ago.
The Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Tomáš Petříček called his Israeli counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi and, according to a Czech Foreign Ministry statement, “the Ministers followed up on their friendly exchange from the recent past.”
So far, no serious implications on regional stability have been recorded as a result of this move.