According to the Palestinian news agency Safa, citing Israel’s Channel 14, the U.S. consulate in occupied Jerusalem has opened a branch in a West Bank settlement for the first time since 1967.<\/p>\n
This Israeli television network reported that the U.S. consulate has established its office in the Efrat settlement within the Gush Etzion residential complex, south of Bethlehem.Channel 14 emphasized that this decision marks a fundamental shift in the U.S. stance, implying recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank.<\/p>\n
Additionally, the Israeli news outlet Kipa reported that the U.S. consulate will operate an office in Efrat, signifying a notable change in U.S. policy regarding the territories occupied in 1967, effectively recognizing Israel’s sovereignty there.This move carries significant political implications, as the presence of a consulate in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank reflects a shift in the U.S. approach to the occupation of the 1967 territories. It indicates that the United States is moving towards a policy different from its past stance on the legal status of the West Bank.Safa noted that this development follows recent decisions by the Israeli cabinet, which practically cedes full control of the West Bank to the occupying regime.<\/p>\n
The U.S. action comes at a time when Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, known for his support of Israel, described the regime’s efforts to annex the West Bank and assert sovereignty over it as extremely dangerous, warning that such actions would provoke severe global reactions.Graham, a senior politician close to former President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, highlighted the negative consequences of the West Bank annexation during an interview with the Jerusalem Post at the Republican Jewish Coalition summit in Las Vegas earlier this month. He warned that this move could jeopardize Israel’s existence.He criticized the far-right parties in the Israeli regime, especially those advocating for unilateral annexation of the West Bank, stating: ‘If you want to marginalize the Jewish state, pursue this path.’ He added that annexing the West Bank would harm Israel’s existence more than any Iranian bomb, cautioning that if this continues, Israel would lose its support in the U.S. and become more isolated globally.In early December, the Israeli cabinet approved the largest plan for constructing Jewish housing units in southern occupied Jerusalem, which includes 1,300 housing units, schools, public buildings, parks, and commercial complexes. The Gaza Settlement Council described this project as the largest settlement initiative in the history of the Gush Etzion area.This initiative is part of a broader settlement expansion plan led by Bezalel Smotrich Israel’s finance minister who aims to accelerate the settlement process and seize West Bank lands before the upcoming Knesset elections next year effectively obstructing the establishment of a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a significant move viewed by Palestinian media as a recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank, the United States has inaugurated its first consulate branch in the settlement of Efrat, located within the Gush Etzion bloc south of Bethlehem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":614,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-palestine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ghodsnama.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ghodsnama.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ghodsnama.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ghodsnama.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/614"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ghodsnama.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ghodsnama.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24929\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ghodsnama.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ghodsnama.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ghodsnama.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}