US to fold Palestinian affairs office into embassy in Israel

By Daphne Psaledakis and Simon Lewis

WASHINGTON, May 6 (Reuters) - The Trump administration will fold the office that manages Washington's relations with Palestinians into the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said on Tuesday.

The merging of the U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs effectively shuts down the direct line the office had to the State Department headquarters in Washington and brings it under the authority of U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.

On Secretary of State Marco Rubio's orders, Huckabee will "merge" the office's responsibilities into other sections of the embassy in the coming weeks, Bruce told a press briefing.

"This decision will restore the first Trump term framework of a unified U.S. diplomatic mission in Israel's capital that reports to the U.S. ambassador to Israel," Bruce said.

President Donald Trump outraged the Arab world and stoked international concern by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in 2017 and moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem the following year.

His administration closed a U.S. Consulate General that served Palestinians, but his successor Joe Biden established the Office of Palestinian Affairs.

The direct reporting line to Washington was seen as an important mechanism for the U.S. to manage fragile ties with the Palestinians independent from the close alliance with Israel.

The office in Jerusalem was Washington's point of contact with the Palestinian Authority, which has limited autonomy in the occupied West Bank, and with Palestinian populations in the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza.

Bruce said the move did not reflect any change in the U.S. "commitment to outreach" to Palestinians.

News outlet Jewish Insider reported in March that then chief of the Office of Palestinian Affairs, Hans Wechsel, had told staff he would resign at the end of March due to disagreement with the Trump administration's direction. The State Department's website now lists career foreign service officer Lourdes Lamela as the acting chief.

Under Biden, a special representative for Palestinian Affairs also sat within the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs in Washington.

Rubio has not announced a new envoy for the Palestinians. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the status of that post.