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The American Embbady in Jerusalem was opened in May
Source: AFP / Archive
Consulate General for Palestinian issues is dissolved
WRecent US government affront to Palestinians: The US Consulate General for Palestinian Affairs is closed and integrated into the Jerusalem embbady. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday that it was simply a matter of organizing diplomatic activities more effectively. However, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) reacted indignantly.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has long depreciated diplomatic relations with the Palestinians. The downgrading of their representation for Palestinian issues from a separate entity to a mere division of the embbady is now another step. The measure is an affront, especially because the Palestinians indignantly rejected the May move of the US Embbady in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Pompeo denied, however, that the dissolution of the Consulate General should signal a "change in US policy". On the contrary, this should only improve "the efficiency and effectiveness of our operations". However, according to a member of the State Department, the office of the consul general for Palestinian affairs will be abolished.
PLO chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, criticized the fact that the measure had "nothing to do with" efficiency. "Rather, it stems from the Trump government's desire to destroy the foundations of the former US Middle East policy and reward Israel for its "crimes".
With the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the transfer of the message, Trump has broken with the line of American policy in the Middle East and international diplomacy, which has lasted for decades. The status of Jerusalem is one of the most difficult problems of the Middle East conflict. Therefore, there was a long international consensus that it was necessary to wait for the outcome of peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.
Israel regards Jerusalem as its capital. The Palestinians, in turn, claimed the eastern part of Jerusalem occupied by Israel in 1967 and annexed in 1980 as the future capital of their own state. The opening of the new US embbady on May 14 sparked angry protests in which more than 60 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip were killed by Israeli forces.
On Wednesday, Pompeo reiterated that the United States continued to refrain from taking a position on the "final status" of Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, leaving these issues to the Israeli-Palestinian negotiators.
However, since sending the embbady, the Trump administration has continued to fool Palestinians with a series of measures. In September, after the pressure exerted, the office of the Palestinian representation in Washington was closed. The US government also stopped payments to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and its bilateral financial badistance. She accuses the PLO of not seeking "direct and constructive negotiations with Israel".
Trump's son-in-law and advisor, Jared Kushner, has been working for months on a peace plan for the Middle East that is still under lock and key. However, since Trump officially recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in December 2017, his government is boycotted by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
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