East Jerusalem consulate was closed in 2019 beneath former US President Donald Trump, who moved the diplomatic mission to the US embassy in Israel.
The administration of United States President Joe Biden has signalled it’s upgrading its diplomatic mission to Palestinians, which is at the moment positioned inside the US embassy in Jerusalem, after former President Donald Trump downgraded the standing of the mission.
The Palestinian Affairs Unit (PAU), which operated inside the US embassy in Israel, will now be redesignated because the US Workplace of Palestinian Affairs (OPA), and, whereas remaining within the embassy in Israel, will report on to the Bureau of Close to Jap Affairs within the US Division of State “on substantive issues”.
The PAU was created in 2019 when Trump determined to shut the US consulate in occupied East Jerusalem, which had served because the de facto embassy to the Palestinians.
The transfer, whereas incremental, signifies the newest shift within the US’s method because it seeks to fix frayed relations with Palestinians that emerged beneath Trump.
The Biden administration didn’t give any updates on pledges to reopen the consulate.
“The title change was executed to raised align with State Division nomenclature,” a spokesperson mentioned. “The brand new OPA working construction is designed to strengthen our diplomatic reporting and public diplomacy engagement.”
Following the closure of the consulate by Trump, the employees and capabilities of the mission remained largely equivalent, however the downgrade meant they fell beneath the US ambassador to Israel and the mission not maintained a definite US-Palestinian bilateral monitor.
Palestinian officers didn’t instantly touch upon the redesignation, which got here as Palestinian officers mentioned they anticipated to host senior State Division envoy Hady Amr on Thursday in Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority’s seat of presidency within the occupied West Financial institution.
The closure of the consulate and the choice by Trump to maneuver the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018 enraged Palestinians, who need occupied East Jerusalem because the capital of their future state.
Israel, which captured East Jerusalem in 1967 and later illegally annexed it, calls Jerusalem its indivisible capital.
Israel has mentioned it could not consent to reopening the US consulate in occupied East Jerusalem and proposed {that a} consulate be opened in Ramallah as an alternative.
The Palestinian Ministry of Overseas Affairs has rejected that plan, saying it can “solely settle for a US consulate in Jerusalem, the capital of the Palestinian state.”
