Jerusalem: (HRNW) Russia’s embassy in Israel will open a branch office in Jerusalem as part of an agreement with the city, the embassy and an Israeli foreign ministry official said on Friday.
The Russian embassy in Israel said in a statement that the deal over a land plot in West Jerusalem, which Russia purchased in 1885, was signed with Jerusalem’s municipality on May 18, following a years-long process. The property will be used to construct a complex of buildings that will service the consular section of the embassy, the statement said.
The status of Jerusalem – home to sites holy to Christians, Jews and Muslims – is one the biggest obstacles to reaching a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
Israel, which occupied East Jerusalem in a 1967 Middle East war and later annexed it, considers the city its eternal and indivisible capital. The Palestinians want the eastern part of the city as the capital of their own future state.