The Biden administration appears set to appoint US Deputy Assistant Secretary for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs, Hady Amr, as the US consul-general to the Palestinians.
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Amr would work from the US's Consulate to the Palestinians in Jerusalem, which Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced last month would reopen, Israeli media reported.
Representatives from Israel's new government, many of its members still moving into their offices Monday, did not comment on the speculation.
The US State Department would neither confirm nor deny Amr's appointment nor comment on whether Blinken discussed the reopening of the consulate to the Palestinians in Jerusalem with newly-installed Foreign Minister Yair Lapid when the two spoke recently.
Amr is seen as a key figure behind the Biden administration's policies toward Israel and the Palestinians, including the US plans to unconditionally restore aid to the latter – assistance which was curtailed during the Trump administration.
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He was also sent to facilitate de-escalation during violence between Israel and Gazan armed groups in May.
Amr served as a policy analyst and economist for the Clinton and Obama administrations, and worked at the World Bank, World Economic Forum, and the Brookings Institution.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.