RAMALLAH, Nov 8 (NNN-WAFA) – Palestine yesterday condemned Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett’s rejection, to the reopening of the U.S. consulate in East Jerusalem.
“There is no place for an American consulate to serve the Palestinians in Jerusalem,” Bennett said on Saturday night.
In response, Palestinian Minister of Civil Affairs, Hussein al-Sheikh said, Bennett’s remarks “are a new challenge to the Biden’s administration, which has repeatedly announced its intention to reopen the consulate in East Jerusalem.”
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that, Bennett’s remarks “are a blatant challenge to the decisions and policies of the U.S. government.”
In May 2018, the United States moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and in Oct of the same year, former U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo merged the country’s consulate in East Jerusalem with its embassy in the city.
The consulate shut down and stopped providing services for the Palestinians in Mar, 2019.
In May this year, the U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, announced that Washington intends to reopen its consulate in East Jerusalem and to resume its financial aid to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).– NNN-WAFA
