Israel Praises Serbian Pledge to Open ‘State Office’ in Jerusalem
March 2, 2020
Embassy in Belgrade praises announcement by President Vucic in the US that Serbia will soon open “an official state office” in Jerusalem.
The Israeli embassy in Belgrade said it was “happy” to hear that Serbia plans to open a diplomatic representative office in Jerusalem, which Israel claims as its capital.
“We are happy to hear [President Aleksandar] Vucic announcing a plan for the opening of the official Serbian state office in our capital Jerusalem. We encourage others to follow the same direction and join more countries,” the embassy’s Twitter account said.
Vucic announced the news while addressing the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee on Sunday evening during his US trip.
“We are going to open very soon not only an office of our Chamber of Commerce. But, together with our Chamber of Commerce, an official state office in Jerusalem with the Serbian official flag alongside our embassy in Tel Aviv. That’s our way of showing respect to the Jewish people,” Vucic said.
Vucic did not give more details about this new facility. He also told The Jerusalem Post that the country intends to buy weapons from Israel.
In March 2019, former Romanian prime minister Viorica Dancila spoke at the Conference of the American-Israeli Public Policy Committee in the US and also announced that Romania would move its embassy to Jerusalem.
“As Prime Minister of Romania and the government I lead, I will move the Romanian embassy to Jerusalem, the capital of Israel,” she said.
Serbia’s decision to follow suit represents a change to previous policy regarding Israel and Palestine.
In November 2018, while voting about nine resolutions regarding Israel-Palestinian issues at the United Nations Special Political and Decolonization Committee, Serbia voted against Israel’s stance on eight of them while in one case it abstained.
In December 2017 Serbia was among the countries that voted in favour of the UN resolution that urged the United States to rescind its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. It was also the only country in the region to support Palestine’s successful bid in 2012 for non-member observer status in the UN.
In one sense Serbia has a free hand on the issue as neither Israel nor Palestine recognises Kosovo, Serbia’s former province, as an independent state.
EU policy remains that East Jerusalem should one day be the capital of a Palestinian state and that the Israeli claim to the city as its capital should await a peace settlement. However, the US decision under Donald Trump to recognise Jerusalem as capital of Israel has fuelled divisions in the West over the issue.
Photo: EPA/JIM HOLLANDER
