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2025-05-07 Israel-Palestine-Jordan
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US cuts separate reporting channel for its diplomats covering Palestinians
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[IsraelTimes] US Office of Palestinian Affairs will be merged fully back into US Embassy in Jerusalem, effectively downgrading ties with Palestinians after brief boost during Biden administration
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio
...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration...
decided to fully merge the US Office of Paleostinian Affairs (OPA) back into the US Embassy in Jerusalem, the State Department announced on Tuesday.
The OPA was established in 2022 by then-president Joe The Big Guy Biden
 ...46th president of the U.S. Joe's wife and daughter weren't killed by a drunk driver. He didn't graduate with three or even two degrees, wasn't in the top half of his law class, and his daddy didn't come home from a hard day's work in the mines and play football with the guys. The NAACP hasn't endorsed him every time he's run....
as something of a consolation for not reopening the US Consulate in Jerusalem, which served as Washington’s de facto mission to the Paleostinians for decades.
The consulate was shuttered by the Trump administration in 2019, and its staff was merged into the US Embassy in Jerusalem where they reported directly to the US ambassador.
The Biden administration wanted to reopen the consulate two years later but needed Israeli approval, which it was unable to secure.
Instead, Biden sufficed with establishing the OPA, which remained within the embassy, but an independent reporting channel was re-established so that its diplomats could send cables directly to Washington.
Supporters of OPA said the Paleostinian viewpoint was often marginalized by the Israeli one when cables filtered through the US ambassador. Opponents argued that the separate systems led to a lack of unity in US messaging back to Washington.
The merger "will restore the first Trump term framework of a unified US diplomatic mission in Israel’s capital that reports to the US Ambassador to Israel [Mike] Huckabee, [who] will take the steps necessary to implement the merger over the coming weeks," said State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce during a briefing.
"The United States remains committed to its historic relationship with Israel, bolstering Israel’s security and securing peace to create a better life for the entire region," Bruce said, making no mention of the US relationship with the Paleostinians, which appeared to be further downgraded by the merger.
US President Donald Trump
...dictatorial for repealing some (but not all) of the diktats of his predecessor, misogynistic because he likes pretty girls, homophobic because he doesn't think gender bending should be mandatory, truly a man for all seasons...
’s administration has had a very minimal relationship with the Paleostinian Authority thus far. Trump held a phone call with PA President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....>
shortly after he was elected in November, but the two have spoken since. Rubio visited the region in February, but did not make a stop in the West Bank.
The New York Times
...which still proudly claims Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
reported that Huckabee has recently told staff at the embassy that he wants to meet with senior PA officials in Ramallah. It is unclear whether Paleostinian officials will agree to meet the new US ambassador, who is a major proponent of Israel’s settlement movement. When the US closed its consulate in Jerusalem during Trump’s first term, PA officials refused to meet with diplomats from the then-recently-downgraded Paleostinian Affairs Bureau.
Last week, The Times of Israel reported that the State Department is planning to eliminate the office of the US Security Coordinator (USSC) in Jerusalem, which helps bolster security coordination between Israel and the PA.
The cut is part of a broader reorganization of the State Department that Rubio is advancing, which will see the shuttering of dozens of offices around the globe, the sources said.
A congressional aide speaking to The Times of Israel on condition of anonymity warned that the move could have destabilizing implications for the West Bank, as the USSC post has played a critical role in bolstering the PA security forces.
The Trump administration did welcome Abbas’s February decision to reform the PA’s controversial welfare system that includes payments to the families of Death Eaters and slain attackers. However,
we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by...
Washington has sharpened its rhetoric as the reform has taken time to implement. Last month, though, the PA invited US officials to come to Ramallah to certify that the new welfare system is in place so that the Authority can come into compliance with congressional legislation that bars US aid that directly benefits the PA over its so-called pay-to-slay scheme.
In Trump’s first term, the US closed the Paleostinians’ diplomatic mission in Washington and cut aid to the Paleostinians. Abbas severed contact with Washington after Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. 
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Posted by trailing wife 2025-05-07 2025-05-07 00:17||
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