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Is the U.S. Intent on Sparking a Crisis with Israel over Jerusalem?
(Wall Street Journal) Eugene Kontorovich - The Biden administration is insisting on opening a consulate to conduct diplomatic relations with the Palestinian Authority and locating it in Israel's capital, Jerusalem. Opening a separate, independent diplomatic mission would undermine a longstanding bipartisan policy of treating Jerusalem as the exclusive capital of Israel. The consulate plan is a way to undo in part President Trump's recognition of Jerusalem and anti-Israel radicals are pushing hard for the new consulate. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh recently crowed that a U.S. consulate is a stepping stone to recognition of Palestinian sovereignty in Jerusalem. U.S. senators who don't wish to leave a question mark hanging over Israeli control of Jews' holiest city should demand that the State Department shelve the consulate plan. The writer is director of the Center for the Middle East and International Law at George Mason University Law School.