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
Senegalese president meets Kuwaiti crown prince ahead of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week
- Bassirou Diomaye Faye visits Kuwait and the UAE this week to strengthen his country’s ties with Gulf nations
LONDON: The president of Senegal, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, arrived in Kuwait on Monday for an official visit before traveling on to the UAE to participate in Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.
Faye, who was accompanied by ministers responsible for national transformation, African integration, foreign affairs, finance and water management, held talks with Kuwait’s crown prince, Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, on a number of issues, officials said.
The president aims to strengthen ties between Senegal and Gulf countries during his visits to Kuwait and the UAE this week, his office said. And on Jan. 14 and 15 he will take part in the final two days of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, described as a significant annual, international event dedicated to addressing the challenges related to sustainable development, energy transition and innovation.
Faye was welcomed on arrival in Kuwait by the country’s prime minister, Ahmad Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah; the deputy assistant foreign minister for African affairs, Naif Mohammed Al-Mudhaf; and other officials.
