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A U.S. Consulate for the Palestinians Should Be on Palestinian Territory - Not in Jerusalem
(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Amb. Alan Baker - Any request to reopen the former U.S. consulate in Jerusalem as an independent U.S. mission serving the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian residents of the territories raises legal and political issues requiring due consideration. The former U.S. Jerusalem consulate functioned as an independent entity, separate from the U.S. embassy to Israel, serving principally as a quasi-diplomatic mission for the Arab population of the territories and the Palestinian Authority. With the 2017 U.S. recognition of Israel's sovereignty in all of Jerusalem, any new consular mission in Israel would, pursuant to relevant international consular practice, require Israel's prior consent. It is highly unlikely that Israel could give its consent to reopening a U.S. Jerusalem consulate as an independent mission within Israel, serving a foreign political entity - the Palestinian Authority and residents of the areas under its control. The 1995 Oslo Accords witnessed by world leaders, including the U.S. president, enables foreign states to maintain "representative offices" in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority in order to facilitate implementation of cooperation agreements for the benefit of the Authority. This would appear to be the appropriate formula for any U.S. representation via-a-vis the Palestinian leadership and people. The writer, former legal counsel to Israel's foreign ministry and former ambassador to Canada, heads the international law program at the Jerusalem Center.