Czech Republic Recognizes Western Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital

(JNS) The Czech Republic on Wednesday recognized western Jerusalem as the capital of Israel following President Donald Trump’s historic policy changes on that city.

According to a statement published on the Czech Foreign Ministry website, the country “currently, before the peace between Israel and Palestine is signed, recognizes Jerusalem to be in fact the capital of Israel in the borders of the demarcation line from 1967.” While Israel has controlled western Jerusalem since its 1948-49 War of Independence, the Jewish state took control of eastern Jerusalem after the 1967 Six-Day War.

The Czech Republic added that “together with other EU member states, following the EU Foreign Affaires Council Conclusions,” the country “considers Jerusalem to be future capital of both states, meaning the State of Israel and the future State of Palestine.”

The Czechs broke rank with EU members who uphold a policy of not recognizing Jerusalem as the Jewish state’s capital without a final status agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. Yet the move differed from the U.S. policy change in that the Czech Republic conditioned the relocation of its Tel Aviv embassy to Jerusalem upon the results of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, while Trump expressed the unconditional intent to move the American embassy, though not immediately.

The Czech government's move on western Jerusalem follows the Czech Parliament’s approval of legislation in May that recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

In April, the Russian Foreign Ministry made a similar move to recognize "west Jerusalem" as the Israeli capital.