Israel confirms its refusal to open a US consulate to the Palestinians in Jerusalem

Israel on Saturday stepped up its public opposition to US President Joe Biden’s administration’s plan to reopen a US consulate to the Palestinians in Jerusalem, saying such a mission should be in the occupied West Bank.

Under former US President Donald Trump, Washington delighted the Israelis and angered the Palestinians by closing the consulate in Jerusalem and transferring its employees to the US Embassy in Israel, which was moved to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv in 2018.

The Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, and see the US relocation of its embassy undermining that ambition, Israel, on the other hand, occupied East Jerusalem since 1967, calls Jerusalem as its indivisible capital.

Seeking to mend relations with the Palestinians, the Biden administration said it would reopen the consulate, although it did not specify a date.

“My position, which was presented to the Americans… is that there is no place for an US consulate serving the Palestinians in Jerusalem,” Prime Minister Naftali Bennett told reporters.

We express our opinion steadily, calmly and without showing off”.

Standing by his side, Foreign Minister Yair Lapid suggested reopening the consulate at the Palestinian government headquarters in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.

“If (the United States) wants to open a consulate in Ramallah, we have no problem with that”, he said.

In Ramallah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected Lapid’s statements.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh told Reuters, “We won’t accept anything but the US consulate in Jerusalem, the capital of the Palestinian state, and this is what the US administration has announced and committed to”.

A US embassy spokesman has not commented so far.

“We’ll move forward with the process of opening a consulate as part of deepening those relations with the Palestinians”; US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last month.

However, one of his senior officials also said that Israel’s rejection of the plan remains an obstacle to achieving this.

“My understanding is that we need the approval of the host government to open any diplomatic facility,” Brian McConne, US Deputy Secretary of State for Administration and Resources, said during a Senate hearing, when asked about the crisis over the consulate opening.