JERUSALEM-BRUSSELS (EJP)---Israel has warned the European Union against recognizing east Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state, saying such a move would damage Europe's credibility as a Mideast mediator.
The warning came as EU Foreign Ministers are to discuss Monday in Brussels a draft proposal from the Swedish EU presidency that for the first time refers to "Palestine," and calls for a resumption of negotiations that would lead to a Palestinian state with "East Jerusalem" as its capital.
"The Europeans should not dictate the outcome of negotiations in advance," Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said. "This declaration is a dangerous initiative that could hurt efforts to resume negotiations between the parties and will harden the Palestinian position.
He added: "Importantly, this initiative contravenes the principles of the international community and the decisions of the Quartet whereby the parties reach agreement by direct talks."
Both Israeli and European officials believe the conclusions on the Middle East expected to emerge from Monday's meeting will be different from the Swedish document, after a week of internal EU wrangling and heavy lobbying by Israel.
The Swedish text "takes note" of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's housing-start moratorium, and says the EU hopes "it will become a step towards resuming meaningful negotiations."
The proposed document is reportedly backed by Ireland, Belgium, Britain and Malta, while Italy, Holland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland and Slovenia oppose the wording of the text.
France has also opposed the draft on the grounds that more support should be given to Netanyahu for the settlement moratorium, and also because of a feeling that while Paris supported Jerusalem becoming the capital of two states in a future solution, the modalities of how this would be done should be left to the negotiations.
Netanyahu himself has taken an active part in lobbying against the Swedish text, discussing the matter with a number of European leaders, including German Angela Merkel and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose country will take over the six-month rotating presidency of the EU from Sweden in January.
Israel has also tried to persuade the US to impress upon the Europeans the ramifications of adopting a resolution that Israel feels pre-judges negotiations.
Jordan's King Abdullah II on Sunday urged the European Union to help put a halt to Israeli settlement building in Jerusalem, ahead of the EU meeting.
"European countries should press Israel to stop its unilateral actions in Jerusalem," a palace statement quoted the monarch as telling EU ambassadors during a meeting in Amman.
"Peace, stability and security will not be achieved in the region unless an independent Palestinian state is established," said the king, whose country signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994.