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Denmark’s embassy to stay in Tel Aviv: foreign minister

The Local Denmark
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Denmark’s embassy to stay in Tel Aviv: foreign minister
Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen. Photo: Jens Dresling/Polfoto/Ritzau

The Danish embassy in Israel will not be moved to Jerusalem, says foreign minister Anders Samuelsen.

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Denmark will not follow the example of the United States and move its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem following US president Donald Trump’s controversial announcement on Wednesday, foreign minister Anders Samuelsen has confirmed.

“Jerusalem’s status is one of the most sensitive areas in a peace agreement. The Danish government therefore believes that Jerusalem’s status should be a shared capital for two states, unless the two parts agree differently. That was our position before, and it still is,” Samuelsen said in a written statement to news agency Ritzau.

“The government has therefore no plans to move the Danish embassy,” the minister added.

In addition to announcing that the US embassy will be moved to Jerusalem, Trump also recognised the ancient city as the Israeli capital.

Samuelsen also declined to support that decision, reaffirming his position that Jerusalem should be a shared capital between Israel and Palestine.

The United Nations’ 1947 partition plan, which proposed the partition of Palestine to allow for the creation of Israel, stipulated that Jerusalem would be under international administration. 

After the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, fought between Israel and its Arab neighbours, Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan. Israel took over the whole of the city in 1967. 

Israel has claimed Jerusalem as its capital since 1950, with the country’s parliament having been located in the city since that year.

With the official Palestinian position that Jerusalem is their capital making the issue highly sensitive, the international community, including strong allies such as the US, had never recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital until Trump’s announcement.

The right-wing Danish People’s Party foreign policy spokesperson Søren Espersen said on Wednesday that his party was in favour of recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as well as moving the Danish embassy.

“I think that Denmark should also move our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. It would suit the Danish government to follow the example of the USA,” Espersen told DR.

READ ALSO: Danish PM receives complaint from Israel's Netanyahu: report

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