U.K. rebrands east Jerusalem consulate after Israel orders closure

JERUSALEM — Britain said on Thursday its nearly 200-year-old consulate in Jerusalem would remain operating at a smaller scale, renamed as the “UK Mission” in the city, after Israel ordered ​it shut in a dispute over sanctions on settlements.

Israel last month issued a 30-day deadline for ‌Britain to close the consulate after London announced sanctions targeting Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, a dispute that has strained relations between the longtime allies. The deadline expired on Thursday.

Gideon Saar, Israel’s foreign minister, said in a statement that the consulate, in east Jerusalem, would ​formally end operations but that some British diplomats would be allowed to continue work in the building under ​a deal struck between Israel and Britain.

Saar’s British counterpart, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, said his ⁠country does not accept that Israel has the legal right to close the consulate. The consulate is in a ​part of the city Israel captured in a 1967 war, which Israel later annexed in a move that most countries do ​not recognize.

Miliband said that following discussions with Israel, “our Consulate General building will not be closing, and will be known as the UK Mission, Jerusalem from today.”

Miliband said the…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/world