Palestinians: No role for U.S. in peace after closure of Jerusalem Consulate



Palestinians on Sunday warned that Washington had ended its role in the Middle East peace process, now that the merger of the United States’ Consulate General in Jerusalem with the US Embassy is expected to go into effect on Monday.


The move has been cast as downgrade of ties between the two governments, because the Consulate General had served as de-facto US embassy to the Palestinian Authority.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the merger of the consulate with the embassy did not signify a change in US policy concerning the final-status issues. The merger, he explained, was intended to improve “efficiency and effectiveness.”

However, several Palestinian officials said on Sunday that the move was another sign of the US administration’s “bias” in favor of Israel and “hostility” toward the Palestinians.

The officials claimed that the move was part of US President Donald Trump’s yet-to-be-unveiled plan for peace in the Middle East, also known as the “Deal of the Century.”

The officials reiterated their rejection of the “Deal of the Century” and said that the Palestinian leadership will continue to “make sacrifices to preserve the national rights of the Palestinian people.”

The Palestinian Authority has been boycotting the US administration and its representatives since December 2017, when Trump announced his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Mahmoud al-Aloul, deputy chairman of the West Bank-based ruling Fatah faction, said that the US was no longer qualified to play the role of broker to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He claimed that the Trump administration had tried, unsuccessfully, to establish contacts with Palestinian civil society groups, municipalities and other parties behind the back of the PA.