U.S. Pressured to Open Consulates in Jerusalem and Western Sahara

RABAT, Morocco — In talks this week with the top American diplomat, Arab leaders made clear they wanted a concrete sign of the Biden administration’s support: the opening of U.S. consulates in both Jerusalem and the disputed territory of Western Sahara.

But Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken studiously avoided any public commitment as to when those diplomatic missions might become a reality, if ever.

The fate of the consulates already promised by the United States — one to serve Palestinians in Jerusalem and the other in Western Sahara — has hung over the Biden administration since its earliest days. Both would require President Biden to decide whether to stick with dramatic foreign policy shifts brought about by the Trump administration, or reverse them and face a diplomatic and political backlash from longtime allies.

Neither were mentioned in the Biden administration’s $1 billion spending plan for construction, maintenance and security at embassies and diplomatic compounds around the world in 2023 — casting doubt that they would be open before the end of next year. That made Mr. Blinken’s silence on the subject all the more notable when it surfaced after meetings in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, and in Rabat, Morocco’s capital.

“Moroccan and U.S. relations are strong — ongoing, and moving forward in the right direction,” Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita of Morocco said on Tuesday when asked at a news conference with Mr. Blinken whether he was concerned about the stalled U.S. consulate in Dakhla, a city in Western Sahara.

Morocco claims sovereignty over the territory, which the United Nations and other states have long viewed as under dispute.

The Trump administration, in its waning days, formally recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara and agreed to open a U.S. consulate there in late 2020 as an incentive for Morocco to normalize relations with Israel.

On Tuesday, Mr. Bourita suggested that the U.S. administration’s inaction so far on the consulate was merely a matter of timing.

Two days earlier, with Mr. Blinken sitting uncomfortably at his side, Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, raised the issue of reopening a U.S. consulate in Jerusalem as part of what he described as “the implementation of what the administration of President Biden believes in.”

Mr. Biden had promised during his 2020 presidential campaign to reverse President Donald J. Trump’s decision in 2018 to close the consulate in Jerusalem, where it for decades had handled visas and other documents Palestinians needed to immigrate to the United States.

Its closing amounted to a diplomatic downgrading of U.S. ties to the Palestinians and followed the Trump administration’s 2017 recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital — moving the U.S. embassy there, seeking to curry political favor with evangelicals and pro-Israel American Jewish voters ahead of the presidential election.

Israel opposes reopening the consulate in Jerusalem, a position that Foreign Minister Yair Lapid underscored in a news conference on Sunday with Mr. Blinken.

“We have no problem, of course, and it’s not even our place to say anything if the United States wants to open an office to deal with the day-to-day problems, or consular problems, of Palestinians,” Mr. Lapid said in answer to a question about Israel’s opposition. “We just don’t think Jerusalem is the right place for this, because Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and Israel alone.”

Palestinians view East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, and most of the world considers it occupied territory. Mr. Trump’s decision to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over all of the city reversed nearly seven decades of American foreign policy and was roundly criticized by some of the United States’ strongest allies.

Mr. Blinken did not address the issue in the three public venues in which the fate of either the consulate in Jerusalem or the one planned for Western Sahara was raised, and was not directly asked about them. He spoke at length in Ramallah and Rabat about financial assistance, coronavirus vaccines, job training, education support and other benefits the United States was giving to each government.

U.S. officials have largely sidestepped questions about the consulates in recent days by saying there was nothing to announce at this time, as Brian McKeon, the deputy secretary of state for management at the State Department told reporters on Monday when asked if there was money in the 2023 spending plan to open them.

While the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians has gone cold, the Biden administration is trying to de-escalate tensions between Morocco and the Polisario Front, a separatist movement in the Western Sahara.

The two sides have clashed for years over the territory, and Mr. Trump’s recognition of Morocco’s sovereignty inflamed the Polisario and its main ally, neighboring Algeria. While some countries consider Western Sahara as independent, others support U.N. efforts for a negotiated solution.

This month, Spain endorsed a Moroccan plan to govern Western Sahara but give local officials there some level of autonomy. Algeria responded by recalling its ambassador to Spain.

The shift was notable because Spain and Morocco had feuded over the fate of Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony that was later occupied by Moroccan forces, leading to a 16-year war with the Polisario movement. A 1991 cease-fire brokered by the United Nations was ruptured in late 2020, but the hostilities have cooled in recent weeks.

At the Tuesday news conference with the Moroccan foreign minister, Mr. Blinken also called the Moroccan plan “serious, credible, and realistic,” echoing Spain’s endorsement. But Mr. Blinken also appeared to hedge, calling the plan “one potential approach to meet the aspirations of the people of Western Sahara.”

At the same time, the Biden administration seems determined to slow-walk the consulate opening in Western Sahara and appear to remain neutral in the dispute.

Picking sides could also risk geopolitical fallout for another conflict — the Russian invasion of Ukraine — and Mr. Blinken has been trying hard this week to enlist Middle Eastern and North African nations in hampering Moscow, whether by military or economic means.

Algeria has offered to send gas to European markets that have been dependent on Russian energy, and Mr. Blinken must walk a fine line to support that offer without becoming snarled in Algeria’s feud with Morocco.

American officials have been warily watching to see whether Algeria will shut off its gas exports to Europe via a pipeline that goes straight to Spain as a result of the new dispute over Western Sahara — an issue that Mr. Blinken was expected to raise on Wednesday during a brief visit to Algeria.

But he must also take care to not alienate Morocco, an ally with which the United States has close counterterrorism cooperation.

“The Biden administration’s last concern is to implement Trump’s empty promises,” said Sion Assidon, a prominent leftist figure and human rights activist in Morocco who often advocates for the Palestinian cause.

Lara Jakes reported from Rabat, Morocco and Aida Alami from Paris.