US says closing consulate in Jerusalem no policy shift | Nairalaw

Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — The United States has officially shuttered its
consulate in Jerusalem, downgrading the status of its main
diplomatic mission to the Palestinians by folding it into the U.S.
Embassy to Israel.

For decades, the consulate functioned as a de facto embassy to
the Palestinians. Now, that outreach will be handled by a
Palestinian affairs unit, under the command of the embassy.

The symbolic shift hands authority over U.S. diplomatic channels
with the West Bank and Gaza to ambassador David Friedman, a
longtime supporter and fundraiser for the West Bank settler
movement and fierce critic of the Palestinian leadership.

The announcement from the State Department came early Monday in
Jerusalem, the merger effective that day.

“This decision was driven by our global efforts to increase the
efficiency and effectiveness of our diplomatic engagements and
operations,” State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said in a
statement. “It does not signal a change of U.S. policy on
Jerusalem, the West Bank, or the Gaza Strip.”

In a farewell video addressed to the consulate’s Palestinian
partners, Consul General Karen Sasahara, who is leaving her post as
the unofficial U.S. ambassador to the Palestinians and will not be
replaced, maintains that new Palestinian unit at the embassy will
carry forward the mission of the consulate, “in support of the
strengthening of American-Palestinian ties, to boost economic
opportunities for the Palestinians and facilitate cultural and
educational exchanges.”

When first announced by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in
October, the move infuriated Palestinians, fueling their suspicions
that the U.S. was recognizing Israeli control over east Jerusalem
and the West Bank, territories that Palestinians seek for a future
state.

Palestinian official Saeb Erekat called the move “the final nail
in the coffin” for the U.S. role in peacemaking.

The downgrade is just the latest in a string of divisive
decisions by the Trump administration that have backed Israel and
alienated the Palestinians, who say they have lost faith in the
U.S. administration’s role as a neutral arbiter in peace
process.

Last year the U.S. recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and
relocated its embassy there, upending U.S. policy toward one of the
most explosive issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The
Palestinians in turn cut off most ties with the administration.

The administration also has slashed hundreds of millions of
dollars in humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, including
assistance to hospitals and peace-building programs. It has cut
funding to the U.N. agency that provides aid to Palestinians
classified as refugees. Last fall, it shut down the Palestinian
diplomatic mission in Washington.

The Trump administration has cited the reluctance of Palestinian
leaders to enter peace negotiations with Israel as the reason for
such punitive measures, although the U.S. has yet to present its
much-anticipated but still mysterious “Deal of the Century” to
resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, announced last month that the
U.S. would unveil the deal after Israeli elections in April. The
Palestinian Authority has preemptively rejected the plan, accusing
the U.S. of bias toward Israel.