JERUSALEM — Britain said on Thursday its nearly 200-year-old consulate in Jerusalem would remain operating at a smaller scale, renamed as the “UK Mission” in the city, after Israel ordered it shut in a dispute over sanctions on settlements.
\n\nIsrael last month issued a 30-day deadline for Britain to close the consulate after London announced sanctions targeting Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, a dispute that has strained relations between the longtime allies. The deadline expired on Thursday.
\n\nGideon Saar, Israel’s foreign minister, said in a statement that the consulate, in east Jerusalem, would formally end operations but that some British diplomats would be allowed to continue work in the building under a deal struck between Israel and Britain.
\n\nSaar’s British counterpart, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband, said his country does not accept that Israel has the legal right to close the consulate. The consulate is in a part of the city Israel captured in a 1967 war, which Israel later annexed in a move that most countries do not recognize.
\n\nMiliband said that following discussions with Israel, “our Consulate General building will not be closing, and will be known as the UK Mission, Jerusalem from today.”
\n\nMiliband said the…
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