This is not the establishment of a new embassy, but services for citizens of the Czech Republic, the ministry emphasized. According to him, the matter is not related to the peace process in the Middle East.
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Foreign Ministers Tomáš Petříček (CSSD) and Gabi Ashkenazi spoke by telephone about the planned office of a Czech diplomat in Jerusalem. Petříček announced it on Twitter. “We want to further strengthen our relations and bring the services of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs closer to Czech citizens, who travel to Israel twice as much as four years ago,” he wrote.
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I spoke today @Gabi_Ashkenazi, we talked, among other things, that one of our diplomats will be in office from Jerusalem. We want to further strengthen our relationships and bring services closer @mzvcr ???????? Czech citizens, who travel to Israel twice as much as four years ago.
– Tomas Petricek (@TPetricek) December 2, 2020
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The ministry stated that Czech tourists came to Israel last year more than twice as much as in 2016, when about 17,000 of them visited the country.
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According to the ministry, the honorary consuls that the Czech Republic still has in Israel in Eilat and Haifa can help Czech citizens in need only in a limited regime. It is an honorary and unpaid position without complex diplomatic powers, for example, for replacement travel documents, Czech citizens now have to go to Tel Aviv, the ministry said.
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After the creation of the new office, citizens in Jerusalem could also apply. “It’s not about setting up a new embassy,” the ministry explains.
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We do not anticipate the outcome of the peace process
President Miloš Zeman has long supported the relocation of the Czech Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Opponents of the move say it is necessary to wait until the age-old conflict between Israel and Palestine, which includes the dispute over the status of Jerusalem, is resolved.
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According to them, moving the embassy and recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel would violate UN resolutions. Not only Palestinians but also their Arab allies are protesting sharply against the location of embassies in Jerusalem. The Czechia opened the Czech House in Jerusalem two years ago.
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“The establishment of this office has nothing to do with the ongoing peace process in the Middle East, does not anticipate its results or change the long-term Czech position in this process,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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