Palestinians rip Israel on US mission reopening
TEL AVIV, Israel — The Palestinians on Sunday slammed Israel for rejecting the promised reopening of the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, a move that would restore Washington’s main diplomatic mission for the Palestinians in the city.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said late Saturday that there was no room in Jerusalem for another U.S. mission.
The Trump administration shuttered the U.S. Consulate, an office that for years served as the de facto embassy to the Palestinians, and opened a U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has pledged to reopen the consulate, a move Israel says would challenge its sovereignty over the city.
In a statement, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said it views the reopening of the consulate as part of the international community’s commitments to ending Israel’s decades-long occupation of territories the Palestinians seek for their future state. “East Jerusalem is an inseparable part of the occupied Palestinian territory and is the capital of the state of Palestine. Israel, as the occupying power, does not have the right to veto the U.S. administration’s decision,” the statement said.
Israel views Jerusalem as its eternal, undivided capital. The Palestinians seek the eastern part of the city, which Israel occupied in 1967 and later annexed, as capital of their hoped-for state.
The consulate is emerging as a test between Bennett’s government and the Biden administration, which has moved to restore U.S. foreign policy toward Israel and the Palestinians after the Trump White House largely sided with Israel on issues related to the conflict.
Blinken has not provided a firm date for the reopening.