In another bid for peace and to break a stalemate over continued Israeli settlements, European Union foreign ministers have pushed Israel to accept Jerusalem as a shared capital of a future Palestinian state, urging the two sides in the Mideast conflict to return to negotiations as soon as possible. The EU has grown increasingly concerned over the deadlock in Middle East peace talks. The bloc is keen to put pressure on both sides to resume negotiations, but is wary of committing itself to a specific solution before talks resume. “The EU will not recognize any changes to the pre-1967 borders, including those with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties,” a joint statement of EU ministers read. At the same time, it stressed that “a way must be found through negotiations to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the future capital of two states. The statement backed away from earlier draft proposals which called for East Jerusalem to be recognized as the capital of a future Palestinian state, after some member states warned it could limit peace negotiators’ room for maneuver. “If you want to negotiate, you can’t decide the status question in advance,” German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle pointed out.
The United States has not taken a position on the future of Jerusalem, leaving the Israelis and Palestinians to determine its status through final settlement negotiations. “We are aware of the EU statement, but our position on Jerusalem is clear,” State Department spokesman PJ Crowley told reporters in Washington. As a final status issue, this is best addressed inside a formal negotiation among the parties directly.” The EU has long maintained that Jerusalem should be the capital of both the Israeli and the Palestinian state, regularly criticizing Israel for building settlements in East Jerusalem. The EU “recalls that it has never recognized the annexation of East Jerusalem” and “calls on the Israeli government to cease all discriminatory treatment of Palestinians in East Jerusalem,” the statement said.
Controversy erupted in late November when Sweden, current holder of the EU’s presidency, drafted a declaration calling for the recognition of East Jerusalem as capital of a Palestinian state. Leaks of the draft provoked outrage in Israel, where it was seen as an attempt to partition the city. While EU ministers backed away from that stance in their final declaration, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said that the Israeli reaction had revealed how important a player the EU is in the Middle East. “The somewhat unplanned dialogue and discussion in recent days have demonstrated very, very clearly that the voice of Europe does count,” he said.
Within an hour of the publication of the EU’s statement, Israeli officials issued a statement criticizing it, while Palestinian officials welcomed it. The statement “ignores the primary obstacle to achieving a resolution between Israel and the Palestinians: the Palestinian refusal to return to the negotiating table,” said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor. The EU “has chosen to adopt a text which, even if it contains nothing new, does not contribute to the renewal of negotiations,” he said in a statement.
Ahmed Qureia, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee, said, “We welcome the European foreign ministers’ decision and we consider it as a step forward.” He said that no Palestinian could accept any solution which did not have East Jerusalem as the capital of an independent Palestinian state. The teeter tot balancing act showed how difficult a problem the Mideast is, as EU foreign ministers tried to find some middle ground that would please both sides, but couldn’t. Before the suggestion of a shared capital was accepted, Sweden and the EU had to back off fast from the idea of East Jerusalem being the capital of Palestine one day.
 “Assessing the reaction of the Israeli government, I think would be sensible not to do that at this stage, (but) consolidate efforts towards bringing the two sides to negotiating ... as soon as possible,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Vygaudas Usackas said. The EU wants to bring its influence to bear on the Israelis and Palestinians to help bring an end to the 60-year-old conflict, but has grown increasingly frustrated in recent months with the deadlock in peace talks.  “We want two states, and the capital of those two states is Jerusalem,” Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb stressed. After Israel blasted the initial proposal EU ministers became upset too, seeing the Israeli response as heavy-handed. “I really find it hard to understand why Israel does not accept that Palestine consists of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem ... This two-state solution is really the core of (Israel’s) security,” Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said.
Reacting to the initial report that didn’t see a shared capital, Palmor warned that “the Swedish initiative will not help promote the peace process.” He warned that, ““This kind of initiative will only contribute to marginalizing the European role in the peace process … the EU should convince the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table as soon as possible.” Israel nonetheless welcomed the bloc’s decision to back away from an “extremist draft proposal” submitted by Sweden, which had called for East Jerusalem to be recognized as the capital of a future Palestinian state. “The voice of the responsible and weighed member states in the EU has prevailed,” said the statement, referring to the decision not to adopt the draft. The Foreign Ministry also welcomed a reference about the continuation of efforts to improve Israel-EU ties, another expressing the bloc’s “commitment to Israel’s security,” and yet another recognizing the “severity” of Hamas rearmament in Gaza. “We expect the EU to act to encourage direct negotiations between the sides, while taking into account Israel’s security needs and out of an understanding that its Jewish character must be preserved in any future agreement,” said Palmor. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East war and incorporated it into the city’s municipal boundaries shortly afterwards. In 1980, Israel formally annexed East Jerusalem, a move not recognized internationally. Palestinians claim East Jerusalem as the capital of a hoped-for independent state.