Likud MK Nir Barkat submits a proposal that would prevent the United States from reopening its consulate in Jerusalem that had historically served as the de facto representative to the Palestinians.
“We are talking about the unification of Jerusalem,” Barkat tells Channel 12 news. “Before we know it, there will be all sorts of European consulates in Jerusalem, and it will turn into the consular capital for the Palestinians,” he added.
In 2019, the Trump administration merged the 175-year-old Jerusalem consulate into the US embassy in the city, which had been transferred from Tel Aviv a year earlier. Much of the staff at the historic mission on Agron Street in downtown West Jerusalem continued their same jobs, though under a newly named Palestinian Affairs Unit formed under the larger umbrella of US relations to Israel.
But now, according to Barkat, senior ministers in Israel’s new government are welcoming the reestablishment of the consulate. “We must prevent this, it is a very serious matter,” he tells the network.
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Wednesday, July 14, 2021
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