Sputnik: Why is the Czech Republic not sticking to the EU’s common direction?
Jan Kavan: You need to ask president Zeman… I agree with the European Union, as long as the process that has now been suspended hasn't begun, while, according to the UN resolution, and with Israel's consent, two states haven’t been created, one of which must be a free, independent, democratic Palestine with the capital in East Jerusalem, it's not possible to move the consulate there. The European Union has consistently reiterated this for many years. In the past, the Czech Republic also agreed with this. Soon an honorary consulate will be opened there [in Jerusalem], which, in my opinion, is not a violation of international law. A non-official consulate can be practically anywhere, but until West Jerusalem becomes the capital of Israel, and East Jerusalem — the capital of Palestine, an embassy should not be moved there.
President Milos Zeman has really been pushing the decision to move the embassy there for the last two years now. The government has so far not declared anything like this, but now it has given its consent to open an honorary consulate and a Czech cultural center [in Jerusalem]. As far as I know, the government does not support the transfer of the embassy.
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Sputnik: The Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania recently blocked a joint declaration of the European Union, which criticized the US decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry has stated that it strongly condemns the actions of these three countries and that they bear full responsibility for the development of the situation in the region. Do efforts to open an honorary consulate and a Czech Embassy in Jerusalem pose any potential danger? Doesn't this increase the terrorist threat to Czech citizens?
Personally, I do not think that this will lead to an increased terrorist threat, but in any case, the decision of the Czech Republic, as well as the decision of Trump, on the transfer of the embassy, will lead to an increase of instability in the region, increased tensions and weaken the chances of signing a peace agreement. I do not consider these steps reasonable. It's a pity, because the Czech Republic has always had good relations with both Israel and the Palestinians, but now Prague seems to be gravitating more to one of the participants in the conflict. I hope that this won't always be the case.
Jan Kavan: Absolutely not. I have already said this many times and see no reason for me to change my mind. I fully agree with Mr. Schwarzenberg in this respect. It's not safe. These are, rather, gestures designed to please Trump. I would open embassies in Western Jerusalem for Israel and East Jerusalem for the Palestinians, only after two independent states are formed, and until then, no. Here I completely agree with the policy of Brussels, at the moment there is no reason to create an embassy, and on the contrary, I believe that this would be a big mistake.