BIDEN ADMIN’S PLAN TO REOPEN U.S. CONSULATE IN JERUSALEM IS A ‘BAD IDEA’: ISRAEL
JERUSALEM: Israel said on Wednesday that a US plan to reopen its consulate in Jerusalem that has traditionally been a base for diplomatic outreach to Palestinians is a “bad idea” and could destabilise PM Naftali Bennett’s new government.
The earlier administration of Donald Trump had signalled support for Israel’s claim on Jerusalem as its capital by moving the US embassy there from Tel Aviv. It later subsumed the consulate, in west Jerusalem, in that mission.
It was among several moves that incensed the Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem as capital of a hoped-for future state.
US President Joe Biden has pledged to restore ties with the Palestinians, back a two-state solution and move forward with reopening the consulate. It has been closed since 2019
“We think it’s a bad idea,” foreign minister Yair Lapid said. “Jerusalem is the sovereign capital of Israel and Israel alone, and therefore we don’t think it’s a good idea. “We know that the [Biden] administration has a different way of looking at this, but since it is happening in Israel, we are sure they are listening to us very carefully.”
Asked about Lapid’s remarks, a US embassy spokesperson said, “As secretary [of state] Blinken announced in May, the United States will be moving forward with the process to reopen our consulate in Jerusalem. We do not have additional information to share at this time.”
The spokesperson said the United States was not reversing its decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem nor its recognition of the city as Israel’s capital. Israel captured the city’s east, along with the occupied West Bank and Gaza, in the 1967 Middle East war.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said on Thursday it was investigating the fatal shooting of Palestinian civilian Raed Jadallah, 39, a resident of Beit Ur al-Tahta near Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, who residents said was killed by soldiers while returning from work in Israel. The military said troops operating on Wednesday near a highway where Israeli vehicles had come under firebomb attack earlier in the week had fired at a “suspect, who fled the area”.