US to reopen Jerusalem consulate to improve ties with Palestine

Arab League (AL) Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit welcomed the US' decision to reopen its consulate in East Jerusalem, saying the move would boost Palestine's relations with America.

During his visit to the West Bank city of Ramallah on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony announced that President Joe Biden's administration would reopen the Consulate, which had served as a de facto embassy for the Palestinians until former President Donald Trump shuttered it in 2019.

In a statement issued on Thursday by the Cairo-based pan-Arab body, Aboul-Gheit said: "The US move reflects a positive approach by the current US administration, especially in terms of its clear recognition of the two-state solution as the only way to settle the Palestinian-Israeli conflict."

The AL Secretary-General stressed that East Jerusalem was part of the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel in 1967 and it is "the capital of the future Palestinian state".

On Tuesday following a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) in Ramallah, Blinken had said that the decision to reopen the Consulate was "an important way for our country to engage with and provide support to the Palestinian people".

Blinken arrived in Jerusalem on Tuesday morning, his first trip to the region which came in the wake of the 11-day conflict between Israeli and Hamas, which left at least 243 Palestinians and 12 Israelis dead.