The US Embassy in Israel on Tuesday announced that it would, for the first time, provide consular services to American citizens at pop-up locations in settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Consular officers “will be providing routine passport services in Efrat on Friday”, the US embassy said in a post on X. Efrat is an illegal settlement south of Jerusalem, home to a large American community.
Pop-ups service centres will also be organised at the ultra-Orthodox settlement of Beitar Illit as well as in Ramallah, Jerusalem, Haifa, Netanya and Beit Shemesh.
“We welcome the historic decision by the US embassy in Jerusalem to extend consular services to American citizens in Judea and Samaria,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on X, using the Israeli name for the West Bank.
“Thank you [US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee] for making the relation between Israel and the US closer and stronger than ever.”
Passport and consular services are typically held at the embassy in Jerusalem and at a Tel Aviv office branch. The US embassy has previously provided consular services in Ramallah and other Palestinian cities in the West Bank.
There was no comment from Palestinian officials regarding the announcement.
Settlements are considered illegal under international law and a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The move continues a shift in policy under US President Donald Trump, who has been far friendlier to Israeli settlements in the West Bank than previous administrations.
US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has faced repeated criticism since taking up his role. Critics say he advocates for Israeli policies while minimising Palestinian rights. For instance, he also uses the Israeli names for the occupied West Bank.
Experts believe Israel's expansionist moves make establishing an independent Palestinian state impossible. Israeli officials have repeatedly said they will not let Palestine become a real state even though it is recognised as such by the UN.
The Israeli government on Sunday approved a plan to allow land registration in the West Bank for the first time in decades, drawing international condemnation. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey called the move a “grave escalation aimed at accelerating illegal settlement activity”.
Israeli anti-settlement watchdog Peace Now said the move amounts to an Israeli takeover of about 50 per cent of the West Bank. “Any land Palestinians cannot prove ownership of under the state’s strict evidentiary requirements – and they won’t be able to – will be declared 'state land',” the group said.
The land settlement processes were likened to those undertaken in East Jerusalem, which, unlike the West Bank, is fully under the control of Israeli law. Less than one per cent of decisions taken there have led to land being registered to Palestinians.
Settler attacks and army raids have become a near-daily occurrence over the past two years, since October 7, 2023. In the northern Jordan Valley, at least 112 communities were forcibly displaced and 4,037 Palestinians were displaced because of settler violence in the West Bank, the UN said last month.
Israeli rights group B’Tselem has documented 45 cases in which entire communities were expelled, with at least 3,330 people forcibly displaced by settler and military attacks. “Backed by the state, settlers have established dozens of herding outposts around these communities in recent years,” the group said. It said the primary goal of the attacks was to drive Palestinians away and seize their land.
