Palestinians have condemned the shuttering of the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, which served as the main diplomatic liaison with the Palestinian territories. Its functions will now be merged into the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, and diplomatic relations will fall under the purview of U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, who has supported illegal settlements and compared liberal American Jews to Nazi collaborators. Last May, the Trump administration drew international condemnation when it moved the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem—a city that Palestinians want as part of a future state. This is chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.

Saeb Erekat: “This is a day of infamy for American diplomacy. After 175 years of having an American Consulate in Jerusalem, in Palestine, serving Palestinians, which was established in 1844, comes this decision to cancel the American Consulate and, they say, to merge it with the embassy to have more efficiency. It has nothing to do with efficiency. It has something to do with the attempt to dictate a solution on us as Palestinians.”