U.S. to Downgrade Palestinian Affairs Workplace in Jerusalem, Officers Say

In recent times, an workplace inside the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem had a direct line of communication with Washington. That was meant to sign that the US noticed Palestinian points as necessary, and thought of the Israeli-occupied West Financial institution and the Gaza Strip to be separate from Israel.

Now, the brand new U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has determined to close down this direct channel, in accordance with U.S. officers who spoke on the situation of anonymity to debate non-public deliberations. The choice will successfully finish the particular standing of the Workplace of Palestinian Affairs on the embassy, which had been sending cables to Washington with out being required to get them authorized first by embassy leaders.

The cables went to U.S. businesses engaged on overseas coverage and nationwide safety. The workplace, which is within the previous Jerusalem Consulate constructing and never within the embassy, is liable for sustaining contact with senior Palestinian officers and reporting on Palestinian points.

The transfer is one in every of Mr. Huckabee’s most vital choices since arriving in Israel in April.

Lourdes Lamela, the appearing head of the Workplace of Palestinian Affairs, was just lately knowledgeable of the ambassador’s determination after Mr. Huckabee consulted with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the officers stated.

After the State Division was requested for remark for this text on Tuesday morning, the division spokesperson, Tammy Bruce, stated at a day information convention that Mr. Rubio had determined “to merge the obligations” of the Palestinian Affairs workplace “totally” into the embassy. She added that Mr. Huckabee would oversee the merger within the coming weeks.

She additionally stated the change to the workplace was “not a mirrored image on any outreach or dedication to outreach to the folks of the West Financial institution or to Gaza.”

For many years, underneath Republican and Democratic presidents, the State Division maintained an embassy in Tel Aviv as a result of the US didn’t formally acknowledge Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. However the division additionally operated an American Consulate in Jerusalem, the place the U.S. authorities has had a diplomatic mission because the Ottoman period.

The primary Trump administration acknowledged Jerusalem because the Israeli capital and moved the U.S. Embassy there. It shut down consulate operations in Jerusalem. The work on Palestinian points was then subsumed into the brand new embassy, and the division was renamed the Palestinian Affairs Unit, although it stayed within the previous constructing.

America has lengthy advocated for the institution of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Whereas the Biden administration didn’t re-establish the consulate, it modified the identify of the Palestinian Affairs Unit to the Workplace of Palestinian Affairs in 2022 and restored its distinctive mechanism for reporting on to Washington.

The pinnacle of the workplace had the authority to approve cables written by the workers and ship them alongside to the US, with out getting clearance from the highest embassy officers who needed to approve different cable visitors. Diplomats who labored in that workplace took care to calibrate the language and subjects they included in cables as a result of they didn’t need senior officers to revoke the facility to make use of that direct channel.

“Whereas we used the separate authority to report on key points, we needed to be cautious how we phrased it to keep away from shedding our independence,” stated Mike Casey, a diplomat who labored on Gaza points within the Palestinian Affairs workplace from 2021 till he resigned final yr.

The political sensitivity of cable visitors between Jerusalem and Washington surged after the Israel-Gaza warfare started in October 2023. Mr. Casey stated that high embassy officers instructed most diplomats there to cease writing cables besides for brief each day updates, however the Palestinian Affairs workplace retained its particular authority, and the handful of diplomats there continued to write down and ship cables.

Just lately, Mr. Huckabee has additionally instructed embassy workers that he want to meet with senior Palestinian officers in Ramallah, the executive headquarters of the Palestinian Authority. It is a accountability normally dealt with by the pinnacle of the Workplace of Palestinian Affairs, the officers stated. The U.S. ambassador in Israel historically doesn’t meet with Palestinian leaders in Ramallah, reinforcing that the US views the Palestinian Authority distinctly from Israel.

In a textual content message, Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior Palestinian official, stated he wouldn’t remark till the Ramallah-based Palestinian management learns formally concerning the particulars of the choice.

Hady Amr, who served because the U.S. particular consultant for Palestinian affairs underneath the Biden administration, stated that shutting down the direct line between the Workplace of Palestinian Affairs and Washington would undermine the power of diplomats to supply “direct and unvarnished” reporting.

“Closing this channel will additional diminish the credibility and thus the power of U.S. diplomats to interact the Palestinian folks simply on the time we’d like it most,” he stated.

Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, has largely averted confrontation with the present Trump administration over its insurance policies and statements on the Israeli-Palestinian battle, in distinction to his extra combative strategy throughout Mr. Trump’s first administration. On the time, he boycotted U.S. officers.

Mr. Abbas was livid with Mr. Trump for relocating the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, chopping off help to Palestinians, and shutting the official Palestinian consultant workplace in Washington.

Final week, Mr. Huckabee hinted that he would shut the direct reporting channel between the Workplace of Palestinian Affairs and the U.S. State Division.

“Actually there must be a unity and a unified command in terms of how issues run on the embassy,” Mr. Huckabee instructed reporters at a Jewish Information Syndicate convention.

Some former officers on the embassy stated Mr. Huckabee’s determination steered the US may assist Israeli annexation of the West Financial institution, territory that the Palestinians hope will likely be a part of a future Palestinian state.

“It’s a small step that’s indicative of more and more alarming traits in U.S. coverage towards Palestinians, together with the opportunity of supporting Israeli annexation of the West Financial institution,” stated Ibrahim Dalalsha, a former high-level workers member on the consulate in Jerusalem.

In 2017, earlier than Mr. Huckabee grew to become ambassador, he stated that Israel had “title deed” to the West Financial institution and he took challenge with the phrases “West Financial institution” and “settlement.”

“There is no such thing as a such factor as a West Financial institution,” Mr. Huckabee stated. “There’s no such factor as a settlement — they’re communities, they’re neighborhoods, they’re cities. There’s no such factor as an occupation,” he added.

Final week, he instructed Ben Shapiro, the conservative commentator, that annexation was not a call for the US, however he steered that it could finally happen.

Nonetheless, Mr. Huckabee instructed members of the U.S. Senate in March that his insurance policies wouldn’t be carried out within the Center East, however moderately these of Mr. Trump. In February, Mr. Trump instructed a information convention with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel that the US was discussing Israeli annexation of the West Financial institution with representatives of the Israeli authorities. On the time, he stated “folks do like the thought” however clarified the administration had not taken a place on it but.

Mr. Trump added that an announcement on annexation would in all probability be coming inside the following 4 weeks, however no announcement was made.

Michael Crowley contributed reporting.