Israeli expert dismisses EU Jerusalem call

TEL AVIV, Israel, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Calls for East Jerusalem to be established as the capital of a new Palestinian state don't carry much weight, an Israeli political scientist says.

Retired Brig. Gen. Shlomo Brom, a research associate with the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, said a call issued this week by the European Union for Israel and Palestinians to share Jerusalem as their capital won't have any practical effect, The Jerusalem Post reported Wednesday.

Such calls were "purely political," Brom told the Post, adding, "The whole (idea of recognizing East Jerusalem as a Palestinian capital outside the framework of negotiations with Israel) is just political. It has no other meaning except that an important part of the West, namely the Europeans, think that this is what should be done. There are no practical implications."

He told the newspaper that because Israel extends control over the entire city, there was little that the Palestinians could do on their own to prepare for such a move.

"I don't see how a unilateral declaration of a Palestinian state (and therefore Palestinian control over east Jerusalem) is physically possible," he said. "In fact, it's impossible."