by Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff
Contacts at political level with Trump administration "have been cut off and will remain so" unless U.S. changes its position on Jerusalem, refugees, he says.
The
United States Consulate General in Jerusalem, which serves Palestinians,
will be absorbed into the new U.S. Embassy to Israel in March, a U.S.
official said on Tuesday, giving a date for a merger that has been
condemned by Palestinians.
The decision to create a single diplomatic
mission was announced last October by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo,
who did not say at the time when this would take place.
"The merger of the consulate and the
embassy will take place on March 4th or 5th, at which point the position
of the consul general will end, said the U.S. official, who spoke on
condition of anonymity because the date has not been announced yet by
Washington.
U.S. President Donald Trump outraged the
Arab world and stoked international concern by recognizing Jerusalem as
Israel's capital in December and moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv
to Jerusalem in May. Palestinian leaders suspended ties with the U.S.
administration after the embassy move.
The consulate general in Jerusalem is the
top mission for Palestinians, who with broad international backing seek
east Jerusalem as the capital of a state they want to establish in the
West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
At the time of Pompeo's announcement,
senior Palestinian leader Saeb Erekat denounced the decision to
eliminate the consulate as the latest evidence the Trump administration
is working with Israel to impose a "Greater Israel" rather than a
two-state solution.
Asked on Tuesday about the merger, Nabil
Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud
Abbas, told Reuters that nothing had changed from their point of view.
"Contacts at the political level with the
American administration have been cut off and will remain so unless the
American administration changes its positions on Jerusalem and the
refugees," said Abu Rudeineh.
However, he said, there were still "contacts at the security level to fight terrorism."
The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest disputes between Israel and the Palestinians.
Israel regards the entire city as its "eternal and indivisible capital," but that is not recognized internationally.
The Trump administration has said that the city's final borders should be decided by the parties.
Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/2019/02/20/us-palestinian-mission-to-be-absorbed-into-israel-embassy-in-march/
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