Bennett: There's no room in Jerusalem for a US consulate for Palestinians

• Published date: 06 November 2021

"My position, which has been presented to the Americans by myself and by Foreign Minister Lapid, is that there is no place for an American consulate that serves the Palestinians in Jerusalem," Bennett said.

"We have expressed our position [to the US] determinedly, quietly, without drama, and I hope it will be understood. Jerusalem is the capital of Israel alone."

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Lapid backed up Bennett, saying that "sovereignty in Jerusalem [belongs] to one country, the State of Israel," and that "this is a principled stance of the State of Israel to the opening of a consulate in Jerusalem."

The issue here is Jerusalem and not a consulate for the Palestinians, Lapid stressed, adding that the US was welcome to open a consulate for the Palestinians in Ramallah.

Former President Donald Trump in 2019 had closed the long-standing US consulate-general in Jerusalem that serviced the Palestinians and acted as a de-facto embassy to the Palestinian Authority. It had provided a direct line between the PA and Washington. Its services were merged with those of the US Embassy, which was relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018.

The Biden administration has promised the PA it will reopen the consulate-general but has not yet made good on that pledge or even provided a date for such an opening.

It had been expected that the US would only push forward with the matter once the government had successfully approved its budget on Thursday.

It is presumed that this issue will be a growing point of tension between Jerusalem and Washington, along with continued settlement...