PA: Blinken says US will reopen consulate; rejects settlements, settler violence

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that the US “rejects” settlements and attacks by settlers on Palestinians, the PA’s official mouthpiece says.

According to WAFA, Blinken told Abbas that the US also rejects home demolitions and evictions, and that the US is committed to reopening its consulate in Jerusalem.

He said he would talk to US President Joe Biden “about the challenges and difficulties facing the Palestinians,” WAFA says.

Abbas told Blinken “that the current situation is not sustainable,” WAFA says, rattling off a list of issues Abbas brought to Blinken, from settlement activity to “the Israeli occupation of the land of the State of Palestine,” to prisoner rights, the Temple Mount/al-Aqsa Mosque compound and tax deductions to offset money Ramallah disburses to Palestinians jailed for attacking Israelis and the families of slain attackers.

There is no immediate readout on the call between the two from the US State Department.