JERUSALEM – The Biden government has announced a dramatic but partial overthrow of Donald Trump’s closure of the Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem by opening a “US Palestinian Affairs Office” in the city. Biden’s move is seen by some as a reward for the Palestinian leadership following a wave of terrorism in which two Palestinians killed three Israelis with an ax and a knife in the city of Eland in May. Last month, Raad Hazem, a 28-year-old Palestinian gunman from Jenin, killed three people and injured six others at a packed bar in Tel Aviv. A prominent former Trump official sees the upgrade of the Palestinian Affairs Unit, so far part of the embassy in Israel, as a setback for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Trump Officially Recognizes JERUSALEM AS CAPITAL OF ISRAEL The new US Embassy in Jerusalem. (AP) “We had a consul general in West Jerusalem for decades dedicated to Palestinian affairs, which meant that the Palestinians had to go to West Jerusalem for any consular affairs involving the United States,” said Victoria Coates, a former deputy security adviser to the United States. the Middle East. and North Africa under Trump, he told Fox News Digital. “From 2018, their affairs are handled by a suitable US embassy, which also happens to be in West Jerusalem. This unnecessary change with the Palestinians will only prolong the impasse between them and Israel and will not bring us closer to peace from old ConGen [consulate-general] He made [before Trump]. ” AL-JAZEERA JOURNALIST DIES AFTER INSURED INCIDENT IN WESTERN Former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon also attended. “The Biden administration is reverting to previous failed practices,” Danon told Fox News Digital. “Although the announced changes are essentially bureaucratic in nature, with modifications to the names and reference lines, they are the symbolism of the traffic that hits the house for some. It marks an upgrade in relationships with the possibility of more fruitless promises coming. “The Abrahamic Accords have overcome broken examples and sought new solutions,” added Danon, who is also president of World Likud. “This new path has been surprisingly successful. It may be time for the current US government to step aside from the failed policies of the past and look at a new, sound strategy.” TRUMP DECLARES “THE DAWN OF A NEW MIDDLE EAST” AS HE PRESIDES THE SIGNING OF HISTORICAL AGREEMENTS The Trump administration has helped negotiate groundbreaking agreements to normalize diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco. The Israeli government strongly opposes the reopening of the Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem because it would undermine the holy city as the indivisible capital of Israel. Jerusalem proposes to the US to open its Palestinian consulate in Ramallah, the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority. Fox News Digital sent a press release to the State Department on Thursday for comment, but received no response prior to publication. Inscription at the State Department Building in Washington, DC, July 19, 2019. (iStock) “Failing to impose on Israel its plan to open a consulate to the Palestinians in Jerusalem, this is a transparent attempt by the Biden government to turn the back door, with a de facto consulate in a clear attempt to weaken the government. “Recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” Arsen Ostrovsky, an Israeli human rights lawyer and chairman and chief executive of the International Law Forum, told Fox News Digital. “The move, a direct challenge to Israeli sovereignty, which could also violate the Law on the Embassy of Jerusalem, will only reward Palestinian intransigence and violence, as we have seen in recent months.” Violence in Gaza INCREASES AS CONFLICT RESUMES IN Jerusalem The 1995 US Embassy in Jerusalem Act recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and calls for it to remain an indivisible city. The diplomatic upgrade means that the Palestinians will deal directly with the State Department in Washington instead of going through the US ambassador to Israel first. Israeli flag waving over Jerusalem and Temple Mount (iStock) The ministry renamed the Palestinian Affairs Unit to the US Bureau of Palestinian Affairs. In a statement, the office, now independent of the Jerusalem embassy, said the change was intended to “strengthen our diplomatic reporting and public diplomacy,” according to the Associated Press. CLICK HERE TO RECEIVE THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION “We felt it was important to re-establish separate lines of reference in Washington for Israeli and Palestinian issues from our respective groups on the ground that focus on these issues,” the statement said, adding that the United States was re-establishing a system decades ago. from the Trump decision. But it does not live up to the Biden administration’s commitments – and Palestinian demands – for the United States to reopen its consulate in Jerusalem, which for decades served as a de facto embassy for Palestinians. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Benjamin Weinthal discusses Middle East issues. You can follow Benjamin Weinthal on Twitter @BenWeinthal.
