Britain's east Jerusalem consulate is downgraded to a mission in dispute with Israel

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

54% : Doughty, the Middle East minister, said the U.K. has "a strong and ongoing relationship with Israel.
50% : The current government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the most nationalist and religious in Israel's history, views the West Bank as the biblical and historical homeland of the Jewish people and sees the settlements as key to maintaining security.
49% : British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said in a statement that the building "will be known as the U.K. Mission, Jerusalem" after discussions with Israel's government, and a small team of diplomats would continue to operate there.
47% : Miliband made clear that Britain does "not accept that the government of Israel has the legal right to close the British Consulate General in Jerusalem, which has been there for nearly 200 years.
45% : Twenty British diplomats will leave Israel, including the consul general.
41% : "Israel will no longer turn its cheek to diplomatic attacks against it," Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said in a statement, adding that the building would continue to operate with a "task force" of seven diplomats and a "very limited" scope of activity.
41% : Britain had threatened to expel Israeli diplomats if the consulate was closed, but said it would not do so for now because it's in talks with Israel about expanding the mission.
41% : " Israel captured the West Bank, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians want for a future state.
35% : JERUSALEM -- Israel said Thursday that the British Consulate in east Jerusalem has "ceased to function" in that capacity and that 20 staffers will leave the country, deepening the biggest diplomatic rift between the close allies in decades.
34% : " The U.K. and Israel continue to have close defense and security cooperation, but diplomatic relations have deteriorated over Israel's conduct of the war with the Hamas militant group in Gaza and Britain's decision last year to recognize a Palestinian state.
26% : The United Nations and much of the international community consider all settlements illegal.

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