JERUSALEM: The United States upgraded its diplomatic mission to the Palestinians on Thursday, reversing a Trump administration move ahead of a planned visit by President Joe Biden.
The “Palestinian Affairs Unit” (PAU) was renamed the “US Office of Palestinian Affairs” (OPA) and will report directly to Washington “on substantive matters.” Prior to becoming the PAU, it had been the US consulate in Jerusalem and a focus of Palestinian statehood goals in the city.
Former President Donald Trump formally closed the consulate and redesignated it as the PAU within the US Embassy that was moved to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv in 2018.
That move outraged Palestinians, who saw it as undermining their aspiration to have East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state. Israel, which captured East Jerusalem in 1967, calls Jerusalem its indivisible capital.
“The OPA operates under the auspices of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, and reports on substantive matters directly to the Near Eastern Affairs Bureau in the State Department,” a spokesperson for the mission said.
“The name change was done to better align with State Department nomenclature,” the spokesperson said. “The new OPA operating structure is designed to strengthen our diplomatic reporting and public diplomacy engagement.”
On Thursday, Palestinian officials hosted US State Department envoy Hady Amr in Ramallah, their seat of government in the occupied West Bank. They had no immediate comment at the end of the meeting.
A senior Palestinian official told Reuters that in a call with the US Secretary of State several days ago, President Mahmoud Abbas rejected any alternatives to the reopening of the US consulate in Jerusalem.
Under the Trump-era redesignation, the former consulate’s staff and functions remained largely identical, but were subordinate to the embassy rather than on a strict US-Palestinian bilateral track.
The former consulate building, which now houses the OPA, is in west Jerusalem.
The Biden administration has pledged to reopen the consulate, but Israel has said it would not consent to this and proposed that a consulate be opened in Ramallah instead.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry declined comment on Thursday’s redesignation of the Jerusalem mission.
US signals a boost in ties with Palestinians ahead of Biden visit
https://arab.news/g3fb3
US signals a boost in ties with Palestinians ahead of Biden visit
- The "Palestinian Affairs Unit" (PAU) was renamed the "US Office of Palestinian Affairs" (OPA) and will report directly to Washington "on substantive matters"
- The OPA operates under the auspices of the US Embassy in Jerusalem
Morocco rolls out emergency aid during harsh winter weather
- A red alert was issued on Tuesday for snowfall of up to 80 cm (31 inches) in the High Atlas mountains and an orange alert was issued for rainfall of up to 50 mm across most of central and northern regions
RABAT: Morocco rolled out nationwide emergency aid to help tens of thousands of families affected by freezing temperatures, heavy rain and snow this winter, authorities said on Tuesday.
Flash floods following torrential rain killed 37 people in the coastal province of Safi on Sunday, damaging some 70 homes and shops in the old town, sweeping away cars and cutting roads. The relief operation will target 28 provinces affected by freezing temperatures, snow and rainfall with food supplies and blankets to be distributed to around 73,000 households, the authorities said.
A red alert was issued on Tuesday for snowfall of up to 80 cm (31 inches) in the High Atlas mountains and an orange alert was issued for rainfall of up to 50 mm across most of central and northern regions.
In the mountains of Ouarzazate, about 500 km (310 miles) southeast of the capital Rabat, snow has reached a depth of 50 cm and temperatures have dropped below zero at night.
Morocco is experiencing heavy rain and snowfall after seven years of drought that emptied some of its main reservoirs.
