As President Biden prepares for his upcoming trip to Israel, the question of his promise to reopen the US Consulate in Jerusalem to serve the Palestinian population is coming up again.
Last year, Israeli officials suggested that while opening it up in Jerusalem is an affront to the Israeli claim to Jerusalem, they have no problem if the US opens it up in the de facto capital of the Palestinian Authority of Ramallah.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman of Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas rejected the idea, saying, "We will only accept a U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, the capital of the Palestinian state."
But consulates aren't opened in capitals. They are opened in other important cities. Capitals usually host embassies, not consulates.
Meaning that if the Palestinian Authority insists that Jerusalem is their capital, they should insist that a US consulate be opened in Ramallah or Nablus or Hebron, and that eventually - in their hope - an embassy would be opened in Jerusalem.
As usual with Palestinians, facts are not a factor. Everything is about symbolism. Many of their "red lines" are symbolic and have nothing to do with their ostensible demand for a Palestinian state. Jerusalem isn't even mentioned in the PLO charter of 1968 - they created that demand to take Jerusalem away from Jews. Their insistence on Jerusalem being their capital is a completely different topic than statehood, and any links are imaginary.
And then we read this insanity:
The Palestinian Authority (PA) is considering suspending its recognition of Israel ahead of U.S. President Joe Biden's upcoming visit to Israel, Palestinian sources told Ynet on Thursday.The Palestinian leadership has agreed on a tactic of gradually upping the ante against Jerusalem in a bid to stir international pressure and turn the screws on the White House in order to score lucrative overtures from the Americans.As part of the measures, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is considering adopting the Palestinian Central Council's decision to suspend its 1994 recognition of Israel until the latter withdraws from territories it seized in the 1967 Six-Day War and recognizes a Palestinian state within their border. Ramallah is also considering suspending security ties with Jerusalem.
Normal countries are penalized for acting against American interests. The Palestinians are not only rewarded for bad behavior - they expect to be rewarded for acting irresponsibly!
The West needs to distinguish between Palestinian demands and reality, and insist that they will not negotiate fantasies.
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