The Israeli government and the US administration are discussing President Joe Biden's decision to reopen the US Consulate in Jerusalem to manage the affairs of the Palestinian people, political sources in Tel Aviv said.
The two sides are seeking to settle the issue through a compromise.
Unnamed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that among the proposals put forward by Israeli parties was establishing a US consulate in the Palestinian Authority (PA) areas in Ramallah or in areas around East Jerusalem such as Abu Dis.
The sources said that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett directs these discussions in Israel, not Yair Lapid, the alternate prime minister and foreign minister.
Lapid told his US counterpart, Anthony Blinken, that Israel rejects opening a consulate in Jerusalem because it embarrasses the government after the recognition of Jerusalem as the unified capital of Israel.
The US agreed to postpone the opening of the consulate until the Knesset meets on November 7 to approve Israel’s budget in order to ensure the government's political stability.
The US ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides will work from the embassy's headquarters in Tel Aviv and West Jerusalem.
The US plan also includes reopening the East Jerusalem branch of the consulate, which operated until 2010.
A political source in Ramallah stated that officials in Washington and in the office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are discussing the matter, noting that the authority does not mind establishing this branch, provided that the consulate is also reopened in Jerusalem.
However, Bennett objects to this, noting that opening the consulate will establish two US diplomatic entities in the capital of Israel: the embassy dealing with Israeli affairs within the Green Line, and the consulate that will act as an embassy and handle Palestinians' issues in the east of the city, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and settlements in the West Bank.
Bennett's sources believe the move could "divide Jerusalem," noting that the Palestinians understand it that way.
They quote Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, who said recently that "the US administration’s message is that Jerusalem is not a united Israeli city and that the administration does not recognize the annexation of Arab Jerusalem to the Israeli side."
"We would like the American consulate to lay the foundation for a future American embassy in a Palestinian state,” Shtayyeh said.
Israel is concerned that the US administration will make a unilateral decision and take the necessary measures to reopen the consulate.
Former Foreign Ministry director-general Dore Gold, currently the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs president, believes that Israel should put things on the table and clarify to Washington very openly what it can and can't do.
"If we are very clear about our real maneuvering space, the Americans will respect that," he stated.
Gold was asked about the US claims that the consulate existed for decades without Israel making any request for it to be closed.
He indicated that Israel judges the existing reality claiming the PA didn't exist for decades, and now it does.
“For 19 years, Jerusalem was divided with fences and a border, but for 54 years, it has been an undivided city, '' he said.
"If they had opened a consulate in Ramallah, I wouldn't have been enthusiastic, but I would have understood it. If they had opened a consulate after the Palestinian authorities stopped paying salaries to the families of terrorists, I still wouldn't have accepted a consulate in Jerusalem, but I would have understood the demand. But the Palestinians haven't changed their behavior, and they are receiving a reward," said Gold.
