IN a significant development in the Palestinian problem, the consuls of 25 European countrie in occupied Jerusalem have called upon the European Union to recognise East Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state. This comes amidst the growing calls for announcing and recognising the independent state of Palestine within the 1967 borders, in direct response to the Israeli demolition of an old Arab hotel in the occupied Old City, to make way for more illegal settlements. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has responded weakly to the demolition of the old Shepherd Hotel in East Jerusalem, while the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Ashton, has condemned the building of a new illegal settlement in place of the hotel. The European official stresses that Europe considers East Jerusalem to be occupied Palestinian land; it doesn't recognise Israel's merging it into West Jerusalem. Does this mean that, at last, we have a new, positive EU stand on the Palestinian cause, as Europe has taken the courageous step of recognising the Palestinian state? Will this mean an end to the Israeli procrastination about the peace process and the endless American support for Israeli tyranny? The Latin American states recognised the Palestinian state, even before the Palestinian Authority asked the UN and its Security Council to announce the creation of their independen state on land occupied in June 1967. If the EU responded to the call of its consuls and recognised the Palestinian state, the Muslim and Arab countries, followed by the rest of the world, would follow suit. This would put pressure on the US, Israel's unswerving ally, to push for a bilateral agreement, rather than a unilateral agreement on the Palestinian side.
