East Jerusalem not part of Israel: European minister

(BRUSSELS) - East Jerusalem, which Palestinians want as a national capital, is "not part of Israel," Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said Monday ahead of a meeting with his EU counterparts.

"We all recognise, in discussions, that east Jerusalem is occupied, and if it is occupied then it is not part of Israel," Asselborn told reporters as he arrived for the talks in Brussels.

"I don't understand how Israel fails to recognise that Palestine is composed of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem," he added, pleading for Europe and the US to use "clear language" when pronouncing on the issue.

However Europe does not speak with a single voice on east Jerusalem, which Israel invaded and occupied in 1967 and subsequently annexed.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini upon his arrival for the talks, said unilateral pronouncements should be avoided.

"We support anything which encourages the two parties to sit down at the negotiating table again," he said.

In a first draft of a statement drawn up for an EU summit at the end of the week, Europe's leaders spoke in favour of "a viable state of Palestine comprising the West Bank and Gaza and with east Jerusalem as its capital."

Such wording angered Israel whose foreign ministry said it harmed Europe's ability to play a mediating role in the Middle East.

A new version of the draft text, seen by AFP Monday, drops the explicit reference to east Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

"A way must be found, through negotiations, to resolve the status of Jerusalem as the future capital of two states," according to the revised text, which remains subject to change before the EU heads of state and government meet in the Belgian capital on Thursday and Friday.