In 2019, when the new U.S. embassy was opened in Jerusalem, the American consulate in the city—which had theretofore served as a diplomatic mission to the Palestinian Authority and to individual Palestinians—was merged into it. In May, Washington informed the Palestinian Authority of its intention to reopen the consulate. Alan Baker explains the institution’s history, and argues that its proper location is Ramallah rather than Jerusalem:
The U.S. consular mission in Jerusalem was originally established with the encouragement of American Christian proto-Zionists in 1844, when Jerusalem was still part of the Ottoman empire. Its function was to provide “humanitarian and legal assistance to Americans in the Holy Land and to protect minorities against discriminatory Ottoman practices.” The American consulate afforded consular services to Christian missionaries and Jews in the Holy Land.
[Today], a mutually accepted consular relationship between Israel and the United States is based on the 1963 Vienna Convention of Consular Relations to which both Israel and the United States are party. Article 4 determines that consular posts, or any other offices forming part of a consular post, may only be established in the territory of the receiving state with that state’s consent. Similarly, articles 7 and 8 of the convention require that the exercise of consular functions vis-à-vis or on behalf of another state requires specific approval.
Thanks to U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem, Baker explains, the presence there of a consulate to the Palestinian Authority violates these requirements. But there is a simple solution to this problem:
A document entitled “The U.S.-Palestinian Reset and the Path Forward,” prepared for the incoming Biden administration . . . raises the “idea of reopening a U.S. mission in the Palestinian territories to signal a commitment to the two-state solution.” . . . Opening by the United States of such a representative office in Ramallah, or anywhere else in the territories under Palestinian governance, would be in accordance with the peace-process documentation agreed to by Israel and the Palestinians and supported by the United States, and would not require Israel’s consent, inasmuch as Israeli law is not applied in those areas.
Read more on Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs: https://jcpa.org/article/a-u-s-consulate-for-the-palestinians-should-be-on-palestinian-territory-not-in-jerusalem/