US delegation visits Palestine's president
Palestine’s President Abbas has reiterated his requests to remove the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) from the US list of terrorist entities.
A handout picture provided by the Palestinian Authority's press office (PPO) on June 11, 2022, shows President Mahmoud Abbas (R) meeting with Special Assistant to the US President and Senior Director for the Middle East and North Africa Barbara Leaf at the presidency headquarters in the city of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has hosted a US delegation led by Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf, ahead of an expected visit of President Joe Biden.
Abbas, on Saturday, reiterated his requests to remove the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) from the US list of terrorist entities during the meeting, his office said.
The Palestinian president also requested that the PLO's office in Washington and the American consulate in occupied East Jerusalem be reopened, after both were closed under the Trump administration, the Palestinian presidency said in a statement.
Leaf, who began a three-day trip to the Palestinian territories and Israel on Saturday, met Abbas "to discuss the US-Palestinian relationship, US assistance to Palestinians, deepening ties + how Palestinians and Israelis alike deserve equal measures of freedom, security & prosperity," the State Department said.
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Reopening consulate
Biden has pledged to reopen the consulate, closed under Donald Trump, whose administration recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital, infuriating the Palestinians who see its eastern sector as their future capital.
Israel opposes the Palestinian consulate in Jerusalem, saying the US should open this diplomatic mission in Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank.
Meanwhile, the US has in recent days changed the title of its Palestinian Affairs Unit to Office of Palestinian Affairs (OPA), without defining it as a consulate.
The unit "operates under the auspices of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, and reports on substantive matters directly to the" State Department, an OPA spokesperson said, noting the new structuring was "to strengthen our diplomatic reporting and public diplomacy engagement".
The move comes ahead of a possible visit of Biden to the region. The US president was saying that he was considering a trip to Saudi Arabia, Israel and Palestine in July.
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