WASHINGTON (Dispatches) – U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is closing the Office of Palestinian Affairs and merging it into the U.S. embassy in Al-Quds, State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce has said.
“This decision will restore the first [President Donald] Trump term framework of a unified U.S. diplomatic mission in Israel’s capital that reports to the U.S. ambassador to Israel,” Bruce said at a department briefing, CNN reported. “Ambassador (Mike) Huckabee will take the steps necessary to implement the merger over the coming weeks,” Bruce added.
Bruce claimed the closure of the office “is not a reflection on any outreach or commitment to outreach to the people at the West Bank or to Gaza.”
“It really is actually very similar to what’s happening here with the bureaus, with our reorganization. It is making sure that the issues that are important are all working together right, are not segmented out so that the interests of the embassy – very, very much like the interests of our foreign aid and other actions – can work together in the Bureau as one entity,” she said.
Still, it appeared to be a further downgrading of relations with the Palestinian people, especially since the announcement comes one day after Israel approved plans to expand its war in Gaza.
On Monday, Zionist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “One thing will be clear: there will be no in-and-out”. After more than 18 months of war, Netanyahu said the population of Gaza will be displaced to the South “to protect them”. Far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said Monday that “we are finally going to conquer the Gaza Strip”.
Last week, Trump said he told Netanyahu, “We’ve got to be good to Gaza.” But, so far, there has been no action to back up the rhetoric, with Israel’s complete blockade of Gaza entering its third month. 
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, more than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began.
In the first Trump administration, the U.S. shuttered the consulate general in Al-Quds and reopened it as the Palestinian Affairs Unit, which operated under the embassy. The consulate gave the Palestinian Authority a dedicated U.S. representative and a direct line to Washington without going through the U.S. ambassador to the Israeli-occupied territories.