US to reopen Jerusalem consulate to engage with Palestinians

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on Tuesday that the U.S. would be reopening the Consulate General in Jerusalem that handled relations with the Palestinians.

The Secretary of State made the announcement after a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and hours after raising the issue with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“As I told both Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and President Abbas, the United States will be moving forward with the process to reopen our consulate in Jerusalem,” Blinken told reporters while sitting alongside Abbas, during his first trip to the region as US President Joe Biden’s top diplomat.

He added, “That’s an important way for our country to engage with and provide support for the Palestinian people.”

The White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the move was the “natural next step toward restoring ties with the Palestinians,” while Blinken said the consulate would also be used to re-engage with civil society and the business sector.

He didn’t offer a timeline for the reopening.

Netanyahu raised reservations with Blinken during their meeting and said he’d prefer it if the consulate were to remain as part of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, rather than an independent diplomatic mission, Israeli officials say, as Axios reported.

Hady Amr, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Israeli-Palestinian affairs, raised the consulate issue last week with officials in Netanyahu’s office and the Foreign Ministry while serving as Blinken’s envoy during the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli officials say Amr received a noncommittal response.

In his comments on Tuesday, Blinken stressed that reopening the consulate would make it easier to coordinate humanitarian assistance to Gaza and reconstruction efforts with the UN and the Palestinian Authority.

Blinken added the Biden administration would be asking Congress to approve an additional $75 million dollars in assistance for the reconstruction of Gaza in 2021 and another $30 million dollars for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA).

The consulate dates back to 1844 and served for 25 years as the U.S. diplomatic mission to the Palestinians.

However, in 2018, outgoing President Donald Trump merged the consulate into the US embassy in Jerusalem, after he moved the US embassy to ‘Israel’ from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem after his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017.

In 2018, the Trump administration also blocked nearly all aid to Palestinians after it severed ties with the Palestinian Authority (PA).

On January 17, 2018, the US cut more than half its planned funding ($65m out of a $125m aid package) to the UNRWA.

On August 25, 2018, the US cut $200m economic aid to the Palestinians after it had planned to provide $251m for good governance, health, education and funding for civil society in the 2018 budget.

On August 31, 2018, the US State Department said it is stopping all funding to UNRWA after determining the organisation to be an “irredeemably flawed operation”.

On September 9, 2018, the US slashed one of its last remaining aid programmes ($25m in financial assistance) to a network of six hospitals in occupied East Jerusalem.