Prague reopens honorary consulate in Jerusalem

The Czech Republic reopened its honorary consulate in Jerusalem.

The consulate was opened on Tuesday, about a month after Czech President Milos Zeman made the announcement that the consulate would reopen at an event in honor of Israel’s 70th birthday.

Opened in the early 1990s, the Czech Honorary Consulate in Jerusalem was closed in 2016 due to the death of the consul.

The Czech Embassy has been in Tel Aviv since 1949, though it was closed under the communist regime in Prague between 1967 and 1990.

Dan Propper, a 78-yearold Israeli businessman of Czech origin, was identified by the Czech media as the new honorary consul.

At the time of Zeman’s announcement, the Czech Foreign Ministry said it still considers Jerusalem to be the capital of both Israel and a future Palestinian state.

“This step in no way prejudges the final agreement concerning Jerusalem,” the ministry said. “The Czech Republic fully respects common policy of the European Union, which considers Jerusalem as the future capital of both the State of Israel and the future State of Palestine.”

Moving the embassy to Jerusalem would require the approval of the Czech government.

The United States, Guatemala and Paraguay moved their embassies to Jerusalem from the Tel Aviv area this month. (JTA)