Farewell to Jerusalem

The diplomatic corps packs up to move to Tel Aviv

Ever since Israel was founded in 1948, one of the eccentricities of diplomatic life in the country has been the existence of two separate embassy communities. By far the larger one, in Tel Aviv, did not recognize Jerusalem as Israel's official capital and accepted the inconvenience of a 45-mile drive from the coast to the Judean Hills every time a diplomat wished to do business with Israel's Prime Minister or other key officials. By contrast, a smaller group of foreign ambassadors, consisting of twelve Latin Americans and a Dutchman, took the view that West Jerusalem was legitimately Israel's capital and, with its dry days and cool nights, a much more sensible place for an embassy than the steamy, often tacky environs of Tel Aviv.

Now all that is changing. Two weeks ago, the United Nations Security Council voted 14-0--with the U.S. abstaining--to call on U.N. member states to quit Jerusalem as the site of their embassies. The resolution was an expression of the international outrage that has been directed at Israel for trying, in effect, to change the Israeli occupation of parts of Jerusalem into outright annexation. A bill passed by Israel's parliament, the Knesset, in July declared the whole of Jerusalem--including the eastern sector of the city, which was captured from Jordan in the 1967 war--to be the undivided and "eternal" capital of Israel. In response to the U.N. vote, all but three of the countries with envoys in Jerusalem announced that they would move to Tel Aviv, and by week's end it seemed likely that the rest would soon follow.

As they prepared to quit Embassy Row along elegant Rachel Imenu Street, the normally poker-faced diplomats displayed unaccustomed emotion. Some cast professional discretion aside to express a special sense of loyalty to a city they had come to love. "Jerusalem is different from any other city I've ever seen," said Venezuelan Ambassador Luis La Corte. "Its air, its light, its physical presence make it a completely distinct town. I will miss it very much." With sad resignation, Panama's Marina Mayo, at 35 the youngest envoy and the only female, took a soldierly view. "You have to follow orders," she said. "One is not entitled to personal feelings." Not so the Dominican Republic's Jose Villanueva, 60, the popular dean of the city's diplomatic corps who has lived in Jerusalem for the past nine years. "The whole thing is comic," he declared, to the delight of many Israelis. "We protest, so we leave. And where to? To Tel Aviv, 45 minutes from here. Big deal!"

The most reluctant decision to move was made by The Netherlands, which has had the only European diplomatic presence in the city. The Dutch have a particularly warm place in the hearts of Israelis, for having shielded Jews during World War II and for enduring a severe Arab oil embargo on Israel's behalf during 1974. Israel, a Foreign Ministry statement said, expressed "deep sorrow and sadness" at the "cynical pressures" that forced the Dutch to act on the Security Council decision.

The pressures, in fact, had been considerable. Within days of the original Knesset bill annexing Jerusalem, Saudi Arabia and Iraq announced they would cut all diplomatic and economic ties, including oil shipments, to any country that kept its embassy in Jerusalem. Early last week Kuwait and Libya joined the ultimatum, bluntly giving Holland 30 days to make up its mind. As the recipient of up to a quarter of a million barrels of oil daily from Kuwait alone, the Dutch were in no position to resist.

If the Israelis took the embassy moves with sorrow, they expressed undisguised anger over the American decision to abstain on the U.N. vote rather than cast its veto. Ignoring the provocative nature of the Knesset vote that had led to the U.N. action, Prime Minister Menachem Begin blasted the U.S. decision as "amazing!" Nor was he in any mood to try to sweeten the atmosphere by making some concession that might get the stalled Palestinian autonomy talks under way again. On the contrary, in yet another action certain to arouse Arab ire, Israel last week announced that it would proceed with the building of six more Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

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