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JERUSALEM – The Trump administration announced Thursday that it would abolish the US consulate in Jerusalem, which has long been monitoring relations between America and Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and refolded its operations in the newly resettled embassy in the city.
This decision has the effect of degrading US representation to the Palestinians, inflicting a new blow after President Trump overthrows long-standing American policy and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel at the end of last year. . The United States then moved their embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, angering the Palestinians.
The consulate's autonomous diplomatic mission has functioned as a quasi-embassy in a future state that the Palestinians hope to establish. Instead, relations between the United States, the West Bank and Gaza will now be managed by a "Palestinian Affairs Unit", which will report to David Friedman, an ambassador, a staunch ally of the right-wing Israeli government, an unwavering friend. of the Jewish settlement movement and a stern critic of the Palestinians.
The closure of the consulate follows a series of punitive measures taken by the Trump administration against the Palestinians and their leader, Mahmoud Abbas, in the hope of forcing them to participate in a state-led peace process. -United.
Once President Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Abbas said the move disqualified the United States as a peace broker. He and his NCOs largely cut ties with the US government, including their local counterparts at the consulate.
In addition to the transfer of the embassy, the United States has also cut several hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to Palestinians – even hospitals and peace programs that promote Israeli-Palestinian coexistence – and closed the office of the Palestinian Authority. Palestine Liberation Organization in Washington.
State Secretary Mike Pompeo, in announcing the decision to merge the Jerusalem Consulate into the embassy, said that this had been done to "improve efficiency and effectiveness of our operations "and did not mean a policy change.
"We look forward to continuing the partnership and dialogue with the Palestinian people and, we hope, in the future, with the Palestinian leadership," said Pompeo.
Saeb Erekat, the chief negotiator of the PLO, said that this decision "has nothing to do with" efficiency "but many with the pleasure of pleasing an ideological American team ready to dismantle the foundations of American foreign policy and the international community, in order to reward Israeli violations and crimes ".
Daniel C. Kurtzer, a former ambassador to Israel under Republican and Democratic administration, said that downgrading the mission to the Palestinians would certainly be counterproductive.
"This is another nail in the coffin they are building themselves with regard to their desire to advance the peace process," Kurtzer said. "The message is this: we will not even give you the respect and dignity of a designated representative to deal with you. They will have to deal with David Friedman, if he treats them at all. "
Another former ambassador to Israel, Martin Indyk, recalled that he had met with Mr. Erekat several times. "Symbolically, it was the last leg for the Palestinians in Jerusalem," he said.
