Yesterday, the US has closed its consulate in Jerusalem which covered Palestinian affairs, merging it with the US embassy to Israel, which now illegally located in Jerusalem. The State Department said the merger was made for efficiency reasons and did not signal a change of policy on Jerusalem, the West Bank, or Gaza. With the move, the US’s only direct political bound to Palestine is cut with this merger as the consulate acted as an, unfortunately, de facto embassy in Palestine.

Former Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat called the move “the last nail in the coffin of the US administration’s role in peacemaking” but the truth is the last nail had already been pounded after the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel by Trump and relocation of the embassy in the city last year; this move is the beginning of the burial.

It is a known and highly inured fact by the rusty consciences that the US has the role of a peacemaker in the world, especially between Israel and Palestine. However, it must be not forgotten that their primary concern has always been and always will be their interest as their conception of peace does not contain the nations or the lands from which they can benefit and of course, denial of these is their first principle when it comes to justifying the things they had done.

For instance, the state department deputy spokesman says “The administration remains fully committed to efforts to achieve a lasting and comprehensive peace that offers a brighter future to Israel and the Palestinians,” but it is not hard to deduct that the decision was not an administrative one but rather a violation of Palestinian rights in another form. It is a direct act of political assault to the Palestinian rights and identity as their collocutor now turned into only a unit (namely Palestinian Affairs Unit) which will function as a mediator to deliver the Palestinian correspondent adds to Washington via the US embassy.

Putting a middleman between themselves and Palestine, of which they allegedly look after their rights, they are paving the way further in the alienation of Palestinian people not only in Jerusalem but also as a whole of the nation in general. Also, it, unfortunately, seems that they will not only make America great again but also the Middle East, too.