Britain has warned Israel that it will expel Israeli diplomats from London if Israel proceeds with the closure of the UK consulate general in East Jerusalem this week, according to Israeli media reports. Neither government has publicly confirmed the warning.
The consulate is due to close on Thursday, 8 October, under an order issued by Israel last month in retaliation for a British ban on trade with Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. Reciprocal expulsions on the scale reported would mark what Ynetnews called a sharp escalation in already strained relations.
Ynetnews reported on Monday that Britain had warned Israel it would expel 27 Israeli diplomats from the embassy in London unless the closure decision was reversed, "according to a message conveyed to Israeli officials and obtained by ynet". The outlet said the message was delivered by the British ambassador to Israel, Simon Walters. The figure corresponds to the number of British diplomats working at the consulate.
The Jerusalem Post reported the same warning on its own sourcing, citing two sources familiar with the matter, and said the expulsions would extend to the diplomats' families. The Times of Israel carried the claim in more cautious terms, saying Britain "could expel" the diplomats and describing the Ynet report as unsourced.
Reuters, reporting from Tel Aviv on the same day, did not carry the expulsion warning. Its dispatch disclosed instead that the UK national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, made an undisclosed visit to Israel last week in an attempt to prevent the closure, and failed to reach an agreement. The wire attributed the account to three sources and said a UK government spokesperson had no immediate comment. Asked about the visit and the talks over the consulate, a spokesperson for Israel's foreign minister told Reuters that it would close on Thursday, as announced.
The dispute dates from 8 September, when the foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, told the Commons that Britain would ban imports of goods from Israeli settlements and bar UK companies from providing services supporting settlement expansion. He also set out the government's position that the occupation is unlawful. France and Canada announced parallel measures on trade with the settlements the same day.
"What we seek today is to salvage the only course for peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians - the two state solution," Miliband said, according to the Foreign Office transcript of the statement as delivered.
Miliband told MPs that around 270,000 settlers lived in the occupied Palestinian territories at the time of the 1993 Oslo accords and that the figure today was some 770,000. He said Israel had crossed a long-standing red line in August with the issuing of tenders for more than 1,200 homes in the E1 area. The measures were announced as taking six to nine months to come into force, and are not yet in effect.
Within hours of the statement, the Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Sa'ar, announced the closure of the consulate, the removal of British representatives from the US-led Gaza civil-military coordination centre at Kiryat Gat, the termination of British training of Palestinian Authority security forces in Ramallah, and entry bans on 12 people: 11 parliamentarians and the lawyer Fahad Ansari. Israel Hayom reported that Sa'ar described the British trade measures as "blatant interference" in Israeli sovereignty.
Reuters reported the following day, citing an Israeli official and two sources familiar with the matter, that Israel had formally notified Britain the consulate must close within 30 days, with its diplomats losing accreditation at the end of that period. British representatives at the Kiryat Gat centre, and British diplomats based in Ramallah, were given seven days.
Ynetnews reported on Monday that locally employed staff had already stopped working at the consulate building and that British diplomats were preparing to leave. A British official quoted by the Times of Israel had earlier described Israel's response as "not constructive".
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