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Open a U.S. Consulate to the PA in Ramallah, Not in Israel's Capital
(The Hill) Elliott Abrams and Dr. Amanda J. Rothschild - The Biden administration is planning to open a new Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem - Israel's capital and the location of the U.S. Embassy. But such a move will have a profound impact on U.S.-Israel relations and Israeli sovereignty. Prior to 2018, the U.S. Embassy was in Tel Aviv, while a Consulate General in Jerusalem in effect served as a mission to the Palestinian Authority. In 2018, President Trump moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. There is no case in the entire world where a consulate general exists in the same city as a U.S. embassy, and in 2019 all American diplomatic activity was consolidated into a single mission. This was logical, efficient, and followed the universal pattern; the U.S. Embassy opened a Palestinian Affairs Unit, and most of the staff from the former consulate general continued in the same jobs. These actions followed President Trump's official recognition of Jerusalem as the rightful capital of Israel. In 1995, Congress adopted the Jerusalem Embassy Act with overwhelming bipartisan support, which recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital, stipulated that the capital should remain undivided, and identified funds for moving the embassy to Jerusalem. The proposed move represents a distinct infringement on the sovereign rights of the Israeli state. The Biden administration is seeking to open a diplomatic mission serving a foreign entity in what the U.S now rightly recognizes as Israel's capital city. The U.S. would not allow a foreign country to open a consulate on its own territory that served a foreign entity. The U.S. consulate could instead be opened in Ramallah, where the Palestinian Authority is headquartered. Elliott Abrams, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, is a former Deputy National Security Advisor. Dr. Amanda J. Rothschild, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, is a former Special Assistant to the President.