There is No Place in Jerusalem for a U.S. Consulate Serving Palestinians

Israel has intensified its opposition to the Biden administration's plans to reopen a U.S. consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem, suggesting that such a mission should be located in the West Bank. According to Reuters, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid have voiced their objections to the reopening of the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem to serve Palestinians.

“There is no place in Jerusalem for a U.S. consulate that serves Palestinians. Jerusalem is the only capital of the State of Israel,” Bennett said during a joint press conference with Lapid. “If the Americans want to open a consulate in Ramallah, we have no problem with that... The sovereignty in Jerusalem belongs to only one country - the State of Israel,” Lapid stated.

It is known that under former President Donald Trump, Washington pleased Israelis and angered Palestinians by moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state and therefore view the U.S. initiative to move its embassy to Jerusalem as undermining that aspiration. Israel, which captured East Jerusalem in 1967, regards the city as its indivisible capital.

The Biden administration, seeking to mend ties with Palestinians, has announced plans to reopen the consulate, but without providing a timeline. Meanwhile, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared, “We will only accept a U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, the capital of the State of Palestine. That is what the U.S. administration has announced and committed to do.”