The U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem, which serves Palestinians, will be absorbed into the new U.S. Embassy to Israel on Monday, the State Department said, a planned merger that has angered Palestinian leadership.
The decision to create a single diplomatic mission in Jerusalem was announced last October by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and had been widely expected for early March. The State Department announcement on Sunday gave the official date for the move.
U.S. President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December 2017 and moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv last May.
Palestinian leaders suspended diplomatic contacts with the U.S. administration after the embassy move and have since boycotted U.S. efforts to craft a long-awaited Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, accusing Washington of pro-Israel bias.
The U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem has served as the top mission for Palestinians and reported directly to the State Department, but now U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman will oversee Palestinian affairs as well.
Meanwhile, the consulate general building will undergo extensive renovations and will become the U.S. ambassador's permanent residence.
In the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act, Congress mandated that the U.S. embassy and the residence of the ambassador relocate to Jerusalem.
Successive U.S. presidents have signed waivers every six months to prevent financial sanctions on the State Department for failing to move the embassy and the residence. Now that the ambassador is expected to move to the consulate building, the waivers will no longer be necessary.
State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said the decision was driven by operational efficiency and there would be "complete continuity of U.S. diplomatic activity and consular services."
When Pompeo announced the merger plan last autumn, senior Palestinian Authority official Saeb Erekat denounced the decision to eliminate the consulate as the latest evidence the Trump administration was working with Israel to impose a "Greater Israel" rather than a two-state solution.
