Mayor Teddy Kollek has rejected an invitation to attend a reception here by the British Consulate to mark Queen Elizabeth’s birthday because the British hold two separate receptions, one for Jews and one for Arabs.
Kollek charged that the arrangements by the British consul general smacked of “apartheid.”
The British follow the practice of many other diplomatic missions in the capital, such as the French and Italians, who hold separate national festivities to avoid diplomatic embarrassments that could result in both Israelis and Palestinians attending the same party.
The American consul general, on the other hand, traditionally invites both Palestinians and Jews to the July 4 Independence Day celebration.
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