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Recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's Capital Is Good for Peace. Britain Should Do So Too
(Telegraph-UK) Israeli Ambassador to the UK Mark Regev - The Oxford English Dictionary defines a "capital" as "the city or town that functions as the seat of government and administrative center of a country." Jerusalem meets this definition exactly as the base for Israel's executive, legislative and judiciary branches since 1949. It is an accepted norm in international relations that every sovereign state has the right to decide its own capital city. Only in the case of Israel has this norm not been applied. The White House decision helps to advance peace by eroding the dangerous fantasy that the Jews can somehow be wrested from Jerusalem, and that we have neither a valid claim to the city, nor a right to a capital there. This type of extremist thinking renders peacemaking all but impossible. Whenever the international community has put forward comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian peace plans over the past 20 years, they have consistently acknowledged Jerusalem as Israel's capital. In Jerusalem today, religious freedom is strongly upheld: each faith community autonomously administers its own holy places. In a region where in recent years many religious sites have been desecrated or destroyed, contemporary Jerusalem stands out as a beacon of tolerance and freedom. Other countries, including the United Kingdom, should follow the U.S. in recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moving their embassies there. Such a move would be both just and good for peace.