October 4, 2012

(JTA) – Ile-de-France, the district of France that includes Paris, has signed a cooperation agreement with east Jerusalem, the city’s Palestinian district.

The agreement between Ile-de-France and the Palestinian Authority, which was approved on Sept. 28 and which will be signed this month, will send 300,000 euros for educational and social welfare programs to east Jerusalem, according to the Times of Israel.

The agreement undercuts Israel’s claim to east Jerusalem, which Israel considers part of its united capital.

“There is very high sensitivity to the Palestinian cause in France,” Ile-de-France councilman Jacques Picard told the Times of Israel. “This symbolic move is certainly intended to send a political message.”

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Paul Hirschon told the Times of Israel that the Ile-de-France council “seems intent on ignoring reality and living in a make-believe world.”

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