Wake Up Palestine – Israel Knesset members urge US to reopen East Jerusalem consulate

Jerusalem24 – In this episode of Wake up Palestine, Aida Touma, member of Knesset and the chair of the Knesset’s Standing Committee on Women and Gender Equality, spoke about the issue of Reopening the US consulate in east Jerusalem. As Touma says “this move clearly addresses the Israeli government’s plan of the Annexation of east Jerusalem and the continuous occupation of the city”. Obviously, the US administration wants to lead the peace process that establishes a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Therefore, we (the Palestinians) want to challenge the new US administration to ask for a real step not only a declaration. Touma states that Biden’s new administration has new priorities such as; finishing the US military existence in Afghanistan, whereas Palestine is not even a high priority. Due to the fact that the United States has real interests in the middle east region in which are connected very strongly to the Israeli state, the US administration need to declare where they stand from the continuous occupation of the Palestinian people, as it should be giving signals to the Israeli government assuring that the occupation is not tolerant at all. Besides, Touma emphasizes on the great role of the US government that has to put pressure on the Israeli administration to stop the implantation of high Israeli policy as well as the Annexation for area C and many other areas in Jerusalem. Also, it has to Stop the ethnic cleansing that is occurring in Jerusalem, Sheikh Jarrah and khan al Ahmar. However, and after solving such issues, Palestine and Israel can go back into depth negotiations.