Diplomatic missions in Israel are foreign embassies and consulates in Israel. There are currently 97 embassies in Israel, of which 91 embassies are located in the Tel Aviv District, [1] and five are located in Jerusalem. In addition to their embassy, some countries also maintain a consulate in Eilat, Haifa or Jerusalem.
On 6 December 2017 the President of the United States, Donald Trump announced that the US embassy to Israel would be moved to Jerusalem. [2] The move was made on 14 May 2018. [3] In April 2018, Guatemala announced that their embassy would move to Jerusalem, [4] which it did the following month. Kosovo and Honduras followed in 2021. Paraguay's embassy was briefly located in Jerusalem in 2018, then returned to Tel Aviv after a few months. Papua New Guinea followed in 2023.
Eight countries operate consulates-general in Jerusalem accredited to the Palestinian territories. These are not diplomatic missions to Israel, but rather to Palestine.
Entries in parentheses are located in cities that form part of the greater Tel Aviv metropolitan area.
This is the list of countries that operate consulates within the Jerusalem municipal boundary but are accredited to the city of Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza Strip only. These missions are not directly accredited to the Palestinian Authority and also not to Israel. Between 1844 and 2019, the United States maintained a consulate-general in Jerusalem that conducted relations with the Palestinians. In March 2019, the Consulate General was merged into the new US Embassy in Jerusalem and many of its responsibilities were assumed by the Embassy's new Palestinian Affairs Unit. [15] Countries listed below already maintain separate embassies to Israel. For diplomatic missions accredited to the Palestinian Authority directly located inside the Palestinian territories of West Bank and Gaza Strip, see: List of diplomatic missions in Palestine.
Resident in London, United Kingdom:
Other Resident Cities:
Host city | Sending country | Mission | Year closed | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
Jerusalem | Cambodia | Embassy | 1975 | [30] [31] |
Weimar Republic | Consulate-General | 1939 | ||
Tel Aviv | Colombia | Embassy | 2024 | [32] |
Iran | Embassy | 1979 | [33] | |
Mauritania | Embassy | 2009 | [34] | |
Qatar | Trade office | 2000 | [35] | |
Tunisia | Interest office | 2000 | [36] | |
Venezuela | Embassy | 2009 | [37] | |
Haifa | Ukraine | Consulate-General | 2014 | [38] [39] |
United States | Consular Agency | 2019 | [40] |
The status of Jerusalem has been described as "one of the most intractable issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict" due to the long-running territorial dispute between Israel and the Palestinians, both of which claim it as their capital city. Part of this issue of sovereignty is tied to concerns over access to holy sites in the Abrahamic religions; the current religious environment in Jerusalem is upheld by the "Status Quo" of the former Ottoman Empire. As the Israeli–Palestinian peace process has primarily navigated the option of a two-state solution, one of the largest points of contention has been East Jerusalem, which was part of the Jordanian-annexed West Bank until the beginning of the Israeli occupation in 1967.
The Consulate General of the United States in Jerusalem was a diplomatic mission of the United States of America that provided consular services to Palestinian residents in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. It was not accredited to any government. In May 2018, the United States relocated its Tel Aviv embassy to Jerusalem, and in mid-October 2018, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the Consulate General would be merged with the new US Embassy in Jerusalem and that relations with the Palestinians would be conducted through a special Palestinian Affairs Unit inside the Embassy. On 4 March 2019, the Consulate General was merged into the US Embassy and formally ceased operations. In May 2021, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that Washington will reopen the consulate, without specifying a date. In September 2021, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh called on the US administration to speed up the reopening of the Consulate General in Jerusalem to handle direct contacts with the Palestinians.
Political relations between the State of Palestine and the United States have been complex and strained since the 1960s. While the U.S. does not recognize the State of Palestine, it recognizes the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as the legitimate representative entity for the Palestinian people; following the Oslo Accords, it recognized the Palestinian National Authority as the legitimate Palestinian government of the Palestinian territories.
The Embassy of the United States of America in Jerusalem is the diplomatic mission of the United States of America to the State of Israel. It is located in Talpiot, a neighborhood in southeastern Jerusalem. In mid-October 2018, Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State under the Trump administration, declared that the new embassy would be merging with the Consulate General, through which the United States had maintained diplomatic relations with the Palestinian Authority. Currently, all diplomacy between the United States and the Palestinians is conducted through the "Office of Palestine Affairs" inside of the American embassy for Israel.