By: IBRAHIM Jaafar
US announced this week that it will dissolve its Jerusalem consulate which serves Palestinians, and several central European countries said they would open missions to Israel in the ancient, contested city, a big boost to Israel’s claim of sovereignty over Jerusalem.
In just two weeks’ time, the US Consulate General in Jerusalem will be absorbed by the American Embassy to Israel, which was moved to Jerusalem in May, 2018. According to the right-wing daily the Jerusalem Post, the merger will take place on either 4 or 5 March.
The Palestinian leadership (PL) has shown resentment towards the move which has been in the works for months. PL also complained that it would effectively downgrade America’s relations with Palestinians and put them under the aegis of its Israel mission.
“The Trump Administration is making it clear that it is working together with the Israeli government to impose a Greater Israel rather than the two-state solution on the 1967 border,” Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said in October, when the intention to merge missions was first made public.
“The US administration has fully approved the Israeli narrative, including on Jerusalem, refugees and settlements,” he was quoted as saying in the Times of Israel.
Meanwhile, the prime ministers of Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, in a series of meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Tuesday, all vowed to open diplomatic offices in the city, further buttressing Israel’s hold on the city.