A high-ranking Israeli official has told i24news that the United States will be opening a consulate to deal with Palestinian affairs “soon,” Asharq Al-Awsat reports.

According to the report, the Biden administration has already informed Israel of its intentions and plans to move ahead unilaterally if it does not obtain a response from Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s government, which is no longer seen as under immediate threat of dissolving due to internal strife, now that the budget has passed.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump closed the consulate in 2019 after recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moving the U.S. embassy to the city, merging its services with the consulate.  

The report added that the official Israeli source also stated that the government would soon be announcing a new settlement plan in “East Jerusalem,” an area which includes parts of the city’s northern and eastern neighborhoods that were brought under Israeli control during the Six-Day War. The area referred to is actually in the northern suburb of Atarot near to where an industrial zone already exists.... Read More: Arutz-7