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The US diplomatic mission to the Palestinians in Jerusalem has been redesignated and can report on to Washington “on substantive issues”, indicating an improve in ties earlier than a deliberate go to by the US president, Joe Biden.
What had been known as the Palestinian Affairs Unit (PAU) was renamed the US Workplace of Palestinian Affairs (OPA) underneath the transfer. Earlier than turning into the PAU, it had been the US consulate in Jerusalem and a spotlight of Palestinian statehood objectives within the metropolis.
Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, outraged Palestinians – and delighted many Israelis – by formally closing the consulate and redesignating it because the PAU inside the US embassy that was moved to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv in 2018.
“The OPA operates underneath the auspices of the US embassy in Jerusalem, and reviews on substantive issues on to the close to japanese affairs bureau within the state division,” a spokesperson for the mission mentioned. “The identify change was accomplished to higher align with state division nomenclature. The brand new OPA working construction is designed to strengthen our diplomatic reporting and public diplomacy engagement.“
Palestinian officers had no quick remark. They had been due on Thursday to host state division envoy Hady Amr in Ramallah, their seat of presidency within the occupied West Financial institution.
Below the Trump-era redesignation, the previous consulate’s workers and features remained largely an identical, however they had been subordinate to the embassy reasonably than on a strict US-Palestinian bilateral monitor.
Palestinians need East Jerusalem because the capital of a future state and believed Trump’s embassy transfer undermined that aspiration. Israel, which captured East Jerusalem in 1967, calls Jerusalem its indivisible capital.
The Biden administration has promised to reopen the consulate, however Israel has mentioned it might not consent to this and proposed {that a} consulate be opened in Ramallah as an alternative.
Israel’s overseas ministry declined to touch upon the newest redesignation of the Jerusalem mission.
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