Alwaght- Israeli regime apposed on Saturday the US plan to reopen its consulate for Palestinians in al-Quds (Jerusalem), with Premier Naftali Bennett saying the city is "the capital of the State of Israel only".
"My position, and it was presented to the Americans ... is that there is no place for a U.S. consulate which serves the Palestinians in Jerusalem (al-Quds). We are voicing our opinion consistently, quietly, without drama," Bennett told reporters.
US former President Donald Trump controversially moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to al-Quds and the consulate that served as America’s de facto embassy to the Palestinians was incorporated into the embassy as the Palestinian Affairs Unit. The move drew the ire of Palestinians, who view East al-Quds as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
Giving the occupied East al-Quds back to the Palestinians repeatedly has been suggested as a part of the so-called two-state solution--backed by the West-- to the simmering conflict, but the Israeli regime authorities have apparently ruled out the possibility of such a deal.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, speaking next to Bennett, proposed reopening the consulate in the de-facto seat of Palestinian government in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.
"If they (the United States) want to open a consulate in Ramallah, we have no problem with that," he said.
In Ramallah, the spokesman of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas rejected Lapid's comments.
"We will only accept a U.S. consulate in al-Quds, the capital of the Palestinian state. That was what the U.S. administration had announced and had committed itself to doing,” Nabil Abu Rudeineh told Reuters.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last month Washington would "be moving forward with the process of opening a consulate as part of deepening of those ties with the Palestinians", although one of his senior staff also said Israel's rejection of the plan was an obstacle.
"My understanding (is) that we need the consent of the host government to open any diplomatic facility," Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Brian McKeon said during a U.S. Senate hearing when queried on the consulate standoff.
