Dozens of Palestinian residents of Jerusalem demanded that the administration of US President Joe Biden implement its promise to reopen the US Consulate General in East Jerusalem.
Dozens of Palestinians have signed two letters that will be addressed to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, as well as Ben Cardin, the head of the Democratic Party in Congress.
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Former US President Donald Trump closed the US Consulate General in Jerusalem in 2019 after moving the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in mid-2018.
US President Joe Biden promised to reopen the consulate during his election campaign, and later US Secretary of State Blinken announced the administration’s intention to reopen it without specifying a specific date.
However, in recent weeks, the Israeli government announced its opposition to this step, noting that it had informed the US administration of its position.
“We are writing to you as Jerusalemites to express our grave concern over the delay in the United States’ re-opening of the American Consulate in East Jerusalem,” reads the text of the letter addressed to Blinken.
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It added, “We, the people of Jerusalem, believe that reopening the consulate in East Jerusalem would practically reaffirm the commitment of the Biden administration to the promise he made during the election campaign regarding reopening the consulate.”
And to affirm the United States’ commitment to the two-state solution and to consider East Jerusalem as part of the territories occupied in 1967.”
And she continued, “We believe that the credibility of the current administration is at stake and that acquiescing in the opposition of the Israeli government and its extremist president, Naftali Bennett, would strengthen the suspicions of Jerusalemites.
Which lies in the possibility of the United States playing the role of honest broker that we hoped the current administration would play.”
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As for the letter addressed to Cardin, it stated: “We, the sons of Jerusalem and civil society institutions, believe that the speedy reopening of the consulate in East Jerusalem would restore a glimmer of hope to the Jerusalemites.
In order to restore what was cut off from the relationship with the American people during the past five years as a result of the closure of the American Consulate by the previous administration of President Donald Trump.
“We look forward to accelerating the procedures for reopening the US Consulate in East Jerusalem, as the capital of the State of Palestine,” It added.
Al-Quds activist Salah Zhaikah, the initiator of the two letters, said: “We believe that the reopening of the US Consulate in Jerusalem is a correction to a mistake made by the previous US administration regarding Jerusalem.”
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He added: “The two letters are an expression by Jerusalemites of their aspiration to reopen the consulate as a symbolic measure with a political connotation that Jerusalem is part of the occupied territories in 1967.”
Zhaikah pointed out that dozens of Jerusalemites have signed the two letters so far.
He said, “The two letters will be sent officially if the signatures are completed within the next two days.”
