Status: 11/19/2021 3:35 a.m.
A consulate for Palestinians is causing tension between the US and Israel. The US wants to open it in Jerusalem, Israel refuses. The dispute touches the heart of the Middle East conflict.
It was a statement by which he is now measured: In April of last year Joe Biden, then still a presidential candidate for the US Democrats, announced that he would – if elected – reopen the US consulate in Jerusalem for Palestinian affairs, the Donald Trump closed in 2018.
Now the US government wants to implement this promise, but Israel is strictly against it. It is once again about the controversial status of Jerusalem. “There is no room for another US consulate in Jerusalem,” said Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett recently, adding that Jerusalem is only the capital of one state and that that is Israel. Bennett emphasized that this was also made clear to the US government.
Specifically, it is about a facility in the western part of the city, not far from the old town wall. Political contacts with the Palestinian leadership continued through this consulate until Washington was closed.
Ibrahim Dalalsha recalls that the consulate was the US diplomatic mission for the Palestinians for thirty years. The lawyer and political analyst used to work in the consulate and now runs the “Horizon Center” think tank in Ramallah.
The US consulate was housed in this building in Jerusalem until 2019. Now the US wants to use it again for its former purpose.
Image: AP
An expected no
It comes as no surprise that the Israeli government refuses to reopen the consulate. Israel claims all of Jerusalem, including the Arab eastern part, as its capital. Trump recognized this claim as US President in 2017 and subsequently relocated the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
A US consulate for Palestinian affairs in Jerusalem would now oppose this. From the Israeli point of view, it is about keeping what you got through Trump, says analyst Dalalsha.
The US plan does not meet with rejection in the government, but also leads to protests in front of the building.
Image: AP
Palestinians insist on Biden’s promise
The leadership of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah is pushing for the consulate in Jerusalem to be reopened. US President Biden is expected to keep his promise, said Palestinian Prime Minister Mahammad Shtayyeh.
Shtayyeh rejected the proposal by Israeli Foreign Minister Jair Lapid that the US should open a representation in Ramallah. Ramallah is not Jerusalem. Shtayyeh said they wanted the consulate to open in Jerusalem and become the US embassy in a future Palestinian state. Many other states, including Germany, have diplomatic missions in Ramallah. However, the USA is of particular importance in the Middle East conflict.
Solution impossible?
The intensity with which the dispute is conducted is explained by the question of location. The claim of both sides to Jerusalem is one of the unsolved core problems in the Middle East conflict. Every step has symbolic power. The US government does not want to reopen the consulate against Israel’s will, but it does not want to officially abandon the plan either – and the Palestinians will not accept US diplomatic representation elsewhere. There is no sign of a solution.
The consular dispute is likely to be frozen with no resolution. Even then it would symbolically stand for something – the overall situation in the Middle East conflict.