JERUSALEM (XINHUA) – Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Saturday (Nov 6) that he was against the possible reopening of a United States consulate for Palestinians in Jerusalem.

Mr Bennett spoke at a press conference in Jerusalem a day after the Israeli Parliament passed the annual budget for 2022.

“There is no room for another consulate in Jerusalem,” the Israeli prime minister said he told the US administration.

US State Department Spokesman Ned Price said at a news briefing on Wednesday that the US had “been very clear” about its intentions to reopen the consulate for Palestinians.

Up until 2018, the US had two consulates in Jerusalem, one for Palestinians and one for Israelis.

After former US President Donald Trump “recognised the city as the capital of Israel,” the two consulates were merged and housed in a new embassy.

Relations between the US and the Palestinians soured during the Trump administration.

After US President Joe Biden entered the White House, he made several moves to improve relations with the Palestinians. One of the steps was the decision to re-open the consulate in Jerusalem for Palestinians.

Jerusalem, which hosts sites holy to Judaism, Islam and Christianity, is an incendiary subject in the decades-old Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

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