US closes Office of Palestinian Affairs, dedicated channel to Washington
Source: The Guardian
Mon 19 May 2025 12.41 EDT
Last modified on Tue 20 May 2025 00.12 EDT
The United States has officially closed its Office of Palestinian Affairs in Jerusalem, according to an internal state department memo seen by the Guardian, in effect eliminating the Palestinians’ dedicated diplomatic channel to Washington. The closure, which took effect on Friday, follows through on the secretary of state Marco Rubio’s announcement earlier this month that the office would be merged into the US embassy in Jerusalem.
“Please be advised that the OFFICE OF PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS JERUSALEM, USOFFICE, will be closing at the end of the day on Friday, May 16, 2025,” the memo said.
The quick shuttering comes just as Israel acts on plans to expand its military operations in Gaza that have killed hundreds of Palestinians over recent days. More than 100 Palestinians were killed on Friday, and on Monday, Gaza’s health ministry said 136 people had been killed by Israeli strikes in the last 24 hours, driving the total death toll to 53,486. Hamas took about 250 hostages during its October 2023 attack on Israel, which killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
“This decision will restore the first Trump term framework of a unified US diplomatic mission in Israel’s capital that reports to the US ambassador to Israel,” Tammy Bruce, a state department spokesperson, said in the beginning of the month, though she insisted the move “is not a reflection on any outreach or commitment to outreach to the people at the West Bank or to Gaza”. The state department did not return a request for comment.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/19/office-of-palestinian-affairs-closed