The move came 23 years after the passage of the Jerusalem Embassy Act of October 23, 1995, which set a deadline of May 31, 1999, for the move.[8] The Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations had all deferred the move. Eugene Kontorovich claimed that the decision to shift the US embassy to this area is tantamount to the United States recognizing Israeli sovereignty over land that it captured in the Six-Day War in 1967.[9]
However, despite the move of the Embassy to Jerusalem, President Trump signed on June 4, 2018, an executive order postponing the move of the Embassy to Jerusalem, although it already moved to that city. He was required to sign the order since the Jerusalem Embassy Act requires the US Ambassador to have a permanent residence in Jerusalem, a condition not yet fulfilled.[10]
Merger with the U.S. Consulate General
On October 18, 2018, United States Secretary of StateMike Pompeo announced that the US would be merging the Embassy and US Consulate General in Jerusalem into a single mission. The United States will continue conducting relations with the West Bank and Gaza through a newly created Palestinian Affairs Unit which will operate from the Agron Site of the Jerusalem Embassy.[1] While the decision was praised by the Israeli Government, Palestinian officials criticized the Trump Administration for siding with Israel's claim to Jerusalem and "Greater Israel".[11][12][13][14] In February 2019, it was announced that the US Consulate General would be formally merging into the US Embassy in March.[15][16][17]
On March 4, 2019, the US Consulate-General was formally integrated into the US Embassy in Jerusalem. The Consulate-General's Agron Street premises were revamped as the Palestinian Affairs Unit, which would handle many of the Consulate-General's former functions. This ends the US practice of assigning separate diplomatic missions to the Israelis and Palestinians.[18][19][20][21] In response, Saeb Erekat, the secretary-general of the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive committee called for the international community to boycott the new Palestinian Affairs Unit.[22][23][24] Erekat's sentiments were echoed by fellow Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi, who denounced the merger of the Consulate General as "political assault on Palestinian rights and identity".[25] Ashrawi's visa request to the United States was subsequently denied.[26][improper synthesis?]
On December 18, 2017, in a 14–1 vote, the US vetoed a United Nations Security Council draft resolution on the matter[27] then on December 21, 2017, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution by a 128–9 vote.[28]Palestinian officials warned that it could lead to an "inactive war" and violent protests.[29] The Embassy's opening coincided with the bloodiest day of the 2018 Gaza border protests, with more than 57 Palestinians killed.[30][31] French Minister of Europe and Foreign AffairsJean-Yves Le Drian said, "This decision contravenes international law and in particular the resolutions of the Security Council and the UN General Assembly".[30] On September 28, 2018, Palestine brought a case against the US at the International Court of Justice alleging that the relocation of the embassy breached the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and other rules of general international law. The International Court of Justice asked for briefs covering jurisdiction and admissibility, Palestine's submission by May 15, 2019, the US by November 15, 2019.[32]
The opening of a new US Embassy in Jerusalem led two other countries to move their embassies to Jerusalem. Two days after the US Embassy opened, Guatemala moved its embassy to Israel back to Jerusalem.[33] Paraguay also opened a Jerusalem embassy to Israel, citing the US precedent.[34] Newly elected Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benítez decided to relocate the Paraguayan embassy back to Tel Aviv.[35]
In September 2018, the State of Palestine initiated an action in the International Court of Justice, in the case Palestine v. United States of America (officially titled Relocation of the United States Embassy to Jerusalem), in which Palestine charges the US with violating the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations by moving its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, arguing the Convention requires that "the diplomatic mission of a sending State must be established on the territory of the receiving State." The Palestinian application argues that in international law Jerusalem cannot be considered to be the territory of the State of Israel because under General Assembly Resolution 181 of 1947 (the Partition Plan) Jerusalem was to have been placed under international governance, which thus precludes it from being considered under the sovereignty of any State.[36]
The case also involves the question of the statehood of Palestine, as under the Statute of the International Court of Justice "only States may be parties in cases before the Court." The US has refused to participate in a meeting at the Court and has not submitted its legal brief. Palestine has submitted its brief, which as of August 2020 has not been made public.[36]
Recognition by the U.S. of Jerusalem as Israel's capital city
The United States Embassy is located in what was previously the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem's Arnona neighborhood.[4] The space houses the ambassador and a 50-member staff. The ambassador splits his time between the US Embassy in Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv Embassy Branch Office, where many diplomatic functions are still be conducted. Most consular functions of the former consulate were subsumed under embassy authority.[4][37][38][39]
At a briefing on 18 January, Ned Price, Department Spokesperson for the Department of State, said the US is considering two options for the embassy facility, the Allenby site (the site of a former British barracks during the British Mandate which had been confiscated by Israel from its former Palestinian owners) and the current Arnona site, but that no decision has been made. Price was responding in relation to recent reports that the embassy was to be built on "land illegally expropriated from Palestinians".[41][42][43]
Specialized Office for Palestinian Affairs in Jerusalem
For more see above under Merger with the US Consulate-General.
The former US Consulate General in Jerusalem's Agron Street premises has been repurposed as the US Embassy Palestinian Affairs Unit, which is responsible for conducting a range of reporting, outreach and programming in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and with Palestinians in Jerusalem.[18][44]Senior Foreign Service Officer Mike Hankey, who is fluent in Arabic and French, has been designated as the first Head of the Palestinian Affairs Unit.[45]
In June 2022, the Palestinian Affairs Unit was re-designated as the U.S. Office of Palestine Affairs. While this office is still considered part of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, it reports directly to the State Department, signifying an upgrade to the state of US-Palestinian bilateral relations.[2] It is headed by Senior Foreign Service Officer George Noll, who had served as the head of the Palestinian Affairs Unit since August 2020.[46]
At the end of November 2022, the US reiterated a promise, after two years of delay, to reopen the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem.[47] As of January 2023, the Biden administration has not met this pledge.[48]
1 Embassy which is located at Jerusalem. / 2 Embassy or Apostolic Nunciature which is located at Tel Aviv. / 3 No diplomatic relations with Taiwan, functions as an informal diplomatic mission.
‡ Missions which are located in countries or cities that may be considered a part of more than one continent
1 Consulates-General which function as an embassy (ie. consul reports to State Department, not the respective country's ambassador)
2 The American Institute in Taiwan is ostensibly a public, non-profit organization to promote US-Taiwanese relations, but through State Department staffing & assistance, functions as an informal US diplomatic mission.
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