As Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas called for “a real confrontation with the Israeli occupation,” Israel and the US Administration are apparently at loggerheads over the re-opening of the American consulate in the heart of Jerusalem.
The American consulate in the center of Jerusalem that served Palestinian Arabs, including those living in Judea and Samaria under the control of the Palestinian Authority, was closed after the US Embassy was moved to Israel’s capital in May 2018.
At the time, the previous US administration of President Donald J. Trump decided to finally implement the 1995 Jerusalem Embassy Act, a public law passed by Congress on October 23, 1995, that obliged the US government to relocate the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
No US administration dared to implement the law, however, because of fear for the response of the Arab countries and much of the Muslim world, where some vowed to start a holy war should the US implement the Embassy Act.
After Trump’s decision, Hamas declared that “the gates of hell” would be opened to target American interests...
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