Palestinians criticize Israeli comments on US consulate in Jerusalem | News

The Palestinian Authority has said that Israel has no right to veto the US decision to reopen its consulate in occupied East Jerusalem.

The Palestinian Authority has condemned Israel for ordering the reopening of the U.S. consulate in occupied East Jerusalem because Washington would resume a major diplomatic mission for the Palestinians.

The Trump administration closed the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, an office that had been the de facto Palestinian embassy for years. Secretary of State Antony Blink has pledged to reopen, saying Israel will question sovereignty over the city. The reopening could help resolve U.S. relations with the Palestinian leadership, which was broken under Trump.

In a statement on Sunday, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said the reopening of the consulate sees Israel as part of the international community’s commitments to end the occupation of territories that Palestinians have been seeking for their future state for decades.

“East Jerusalem is an inseparable part of the occupied Palestinian territory and is the capital of the Palestinian state. Israel, as an occupying power, has no right to veto the decision of the US administration, ”the statement said.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Saturday that there was no “place” for the mission in Jerusalem.

“There is no place for another American consulate in Jerusalem,” he said. “Jerusalem is the capital of a state and that is the state of Israel.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid suggested that the consulate could be opened in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, at the Palestinian administrative center.

On Saturday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s spokesman dismissed Lapid’s comments.

“We will only accept one US consulate in Jerusalem, the capital of the Palestinian state. That was what the US administration announced and pledged to do, ”Nabil Abu Rudeineh told Reuters.

The Palestinian Authority wants East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state. Israel, in a move that was not recognized by the majority of the international community after it took over East Jerusalem in 1967, calls Jerusalem its indivisible capital.

In an attempt to resolve relations with the Palestinians, the Biden administration has said it will reopen the consulate.

The consulate is serving as another test between the Bennett government and the Biden administration, which has set out to restore traditional U.S. foreign policy after Israel and the Palestinian White House sided with Israel on issues related to the conflict.

Trump downgraded the consulate’s operations and placed them under the control of his Israeli ambassador in 2018 when he moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The embassy movement angered Palestinians and led them to sever most ties with the Trump administration.

Blinken has not given a fixed date for the reopening of the consulate, and U.S. officials have said it could put Israeli resistance to the movement as an obstacle.