What's With the Money?

In the past, I have published multiple blog posts and a few opeds (2014) on the funding provided by the United States and connected groups to the Arab population in Judea and Samaria which specifically ignores or discriminates against Jewish residents in that same geographical area.

Some examples: here; here; here; and here. There ae many more, going back years. And they include monies for student grants, programs, events, etc.

I had the opportunity recently to engage with an aide to a member of the House Appropriations Committee and I raised the issue, pointing out, besides the discrimination, that getting the two populations to work together on non-politial onerns and interests could possibly lead to a coexistence breakthrough and ultimately, achieve the goals of the programs. My impression was that the matter wasn't seen to be all that the important and moreover, that the discrimination has been dealt with.

So I checked at the website of the Palestinian Affairs Unit which is the former East Jerusalem American Consulate under another name. The Embassy-sponsored programs are separate.

Here are the details of one such aid program, the American Palestinian Arts, Culture, and Sports Initiative. Its objectives they have defined as

the U.S.OPA-PD mission: to advance a comprehensive and lasting peace through a negotiated two-state solution [no other option exists?] to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the development of a vibrant, representative, and responsive Palestinian civil society, private sector, and governing institutions through substantive engagement with American people, institutions, ideas and ideals in order to improve American-Palestinian relations and create greater opportunities for mutually beneficial partnership and cooperation.

So, to improve "Palestinian-Israeli/Jewish residents" is outside the purview of the initiative?

What is its "Priority Region"? Jerusalem, West Bank, and Gaza or a combination of two or three of them. The goal, though, really is to "increase understanding and collaboration between Americans and Palestinians" only.

Eligible primary applicants for grant funding must be not-for-profit Palestinian and/or American organizations working with Palestinians in Jerusalem, the West Bank and/or Gaza.

Another, now closed, funded program involves Journalism Capacity Building. Participants must be "Journalists, media professionals, social media professionals, journalism university students from the West Bank, Gaza, and Jerusalem." Does that include Jewish residents of those areas? Probably not as we read that a goal of the program is to: 

"Improve writing skills for journalists in specialized fields such as gender issues, entrepreneurship and business, economics, technology, foreign policy, democracy, and human rights, environmental issues, and other issues of interest to the United States and Palestinians;" 

as well as to 

"Increase awareness and understanding of American culture, media, society, history and/or current events, as well as of shared American-Palestinian values and interests.

"Palestinians" are who exactly?

This third recent example truly highlights the point I am making: its all about 'forget about the Israelis and the Jews living amongst the Arab population of Judea and Samaria'. It is named the: U.S. Public Diplomacy Palestinian Peacebuilding Program

It is "designed to partner with Palestinian, American, and International non-profit/non-governmental to implement activities which advance the applicant’s goals and the U.S.OPA-PD mission: to advance a comprehensive and lasting peace through a negotiated two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict 

The Priority Region, again, is: Jerusalem, West Bank, and Gaza or a combination of two or three of them. 

The goals are to: Promote negotiation, non-violence, social change, and civic education; Build capacity of peacebuilding institutions and organizations led by Palestinians; Advance equity with respect to race, ethnicity, religion, income, geography (!!!) 

And who are the eligible Participants and Audiences?

Palestinians in East Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza. Preference will be given to Palestinian organizations when possible.

I do see that what is not eligible for funding inludes projects relating that support specific religious activities or promote only one faith/religion. But only when type of resident is what is at the basis of this all. 

No mixing. No mingling. Who knows what it might lead to?

Other programs: Advancing Palestinian Women’s Entrepreneurship Program; Media Literacy Training and so on like a joint dance show in Bethlehem between Palestinian and American dancers that was preceded by a joint workshop (Palestinian = no Israeli Jews).

If that is what the US wants to be, there'll be no coexistence, no empathy, no cooperation and no compromise, no solution and no peace.

_________

UPDATE    from August 19-26, 2022

In the West Bank, Senior Official Allen will discuss U.S. support for English language teaching and meet Palestinian alumni leaders of U.S. exchange programs.  Senior Official Allen will also join the visit of a U.S. Sports Envoy and participate in their skills-building program for youth.

In Jerusalem, Senior Official Allen will visit the U.S. Embassy’s American Center Jerusalem and learn more about public diplomacy programming innovations in science, technology, education, and entrepreneurship.  She will meet with alumni of U.S. exchange programs from diverse communities, including Haredi, Arabic-speaking, Bedouin, Ethiopian, and Druze.

Senior Official Allen will also meet with counterparts in the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss efforts to counter public disinformation campaigns and Holocaust distortion, as well as ways to facilitate continued U.S.-Israel academic exchanges, such as the Fulbright Program.

^

A Consulate Visit to Jericho

This picture was uploaded to the official Instagram account of the Consulate General of the United States in Jerusalem:

And you can read my comment there.

As you know from my previous blogging on the Consulate, they don't use Hebrew much, if at all.  Check all their social media accounts like Twitter and Facebook.

So, here's what the Arabic there says:

US Consul General Karen Sasahara visited Hisham Palace and took a photograph beside the famous star in the palace, which has become the symbol of the city of Jericho.

More here.

As for being a "symbol" of Jericho, I hope she visits the archaeological Tel there where the walls were.  The walls that Joshua is reported to have caused to fall down. Where he "fit". An even older symbol. And there are some urban planning problems there.

I would guess, too, that perhaps she met with Saeb Erekat who lives in Jericho.  No Jews live there, though. Prohibited.  There are, however, nearby Jewish communities like Vered Yericho, Kibbutz Na'aran, Hogla, and up above with a beaiutiful view, Mitzpeh Yericho. There is the Shalom Al Yisrael Synagogue and the Hasmonean Palaces.

I am sure this was just a first outing into the field (the previous CG even trekked about) and I trust eventually, even Tel Shiloh will be visited.

But you notice the other comment there?

khaledazzunHope they will recognize the state of Palestine. 🇵🇸 But the US is so prejudice and ignorant to care about Palestine and Palestinians.

Oh, well. 

^

Consulate Is Chanukah Non-Friendly

I checked the three major social media platforms used by the United States Consulate General in Jerusalem.

No Chanukah greetings.

Facebook. 

Twitter.

Instagram. There's a Christmas one up already.

Jews don't count?

_____________________

UPDATE

Checked in at the Consulate's Instagram account today, Thursday, at 13:30.

There's a Christmas greeting.  No Chanukah. 

There's a similar Ramallah tree-lighting ceremony post at Facebook. No Chanukah.

At Twitter, Jason Greenblatt's Chanukah greeting is up, as a retweet.

^

Unconsolable About the Consulate.

First of all, Caroline Glick mentions me, as "exhaustive", in her most recent piece on the US Jerusalem Consulate and writes

while the PLO missions are pushing the BDS agenda in the US, the US consulate in Jerusalem is implementing it on the ground in Israel.

So, let's check up on their non-consular activities (passports, visas, birth certificates, social security, etc.) which provide the extras: programs, donations for projects, student grnats and stipends and trips to the States, visiting delegations, exhibitions, et. al).

Under the auspices of the Consulate, on October 30, 20 Palestinian youth, including 12 YES Alumni - West Bank came together at the Amideast- West Bank office in Ramallah for a full day of training called, “The Idea of Belonging.”  Ms. Stephanie Fox, the Middle East Director for One Solution Global, trained the participants to explore the ideas and feelings of belonging. 

I wonder what they belong to.

Remember that story of conserving Solomon's Pools which the Consulate-General originally promoted as part of "treasured antiquities" of "Palestinian heritage"?  There's a follow-up about a revival of West Bank reservoirs.  We now read that Consul Donald Blome said:

“We share the hope that this site can be a source of pride, hope and discovery for people of every culture, religion and background. Places of this sort of antiquity should stir and inspire all of us to come together and celebrate their beauty” 

The project is defined so:

Restoring the pools could help area Palestinian communities flourish. Economic empowerment of Palestinians is a pillar of U.S. support

The funds, one million dollars, "are designated to make emergency repairs, protect the canals between the pools and create safe walking paths for visitors" as the "project hopes to revitalize the pools and turn them into a West Bank tourist site."

Efrat is quite close. Wouldn't a joint-project further coexistence and peace?  Or is it always to be almost equal but quite separate out here?

The Consulate is also supporting three Palestinian entrepreneurs to participate in the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in India. The Summit "empowers innovators, particularly women, to take their ideas to the next level". 

And did you know that the Consulate has an office that helps Palestinian companies do business with American companies? Recently, four Palestinian businessmen went to Dallas to attend the ASIS International annual trade show featuring all sorts of security products like X-Rays, alarms, smoke detectors, and more.

I could go on. For now, I won't. 

Let me be clear. I have no opposition to improving the lives, economic circumstances, social experiences and skills of my Arab neighbors. That is laudable and I would hope that Israel's Civil Administration is doing the same, if not with an American budget at its disposal.

But the United States State Department's policy of excluding Jewish residents in the same geographic region from participating and benefiting by not allowing them to join in these very same programs, which, being non-political, would integrate and adjust the two populations and thereby construct a foundation for peace based on mutual recognition, appreciation and respect, is a major error. 

I have making this point to by now almost two dozen political officers at the Consulate who maintain contact with we "settlers". Some wryly agree but point to those "in charge". 

I am unconsolable over this. Peace could have been so much closer. 

What a consular failure. 

 ^

America's Public Affair

Here is the raison d'etre of the United States Consulate in Jerusalem:

Welcome to the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Consulate General, Jerusalem. As the public diplomacy arm of the U.S. Consulate, the primary goals of our office are to support the peace process between Palestinians and Israelis, strengthen democratic institutions by supporting civics and rule of law programs, promote a free and professional media, encourage economic growth and regional commerce, advance the empowerment of women, and promote understanding of American values and society among Palestinians. To achieve these goals, we have at our disposal a wide variety of programs, working with all levels of society. We oversee programs in education, press/media, culture, civil society, conflict resolution, foreign policy, American political, economic and social systems, and much more –- all areas of importance to the U.S.-Palestinian relationship. Our public affairs activities in the Palestinian Territories and in the United States promote professional exchanges between U.S. and Palestinian individuals and institutions with the aim of cultivating mutual understanding and cooperation at the people-to-people level.
Our specific programming responsibilities are limited to Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.

Screen snap: 

No Jewish Israelis, seemingly, reside in those "Palestinian territories" since we do not get to share in those programs with other residents in the area nor are we invited to benefit from them or the accompanying coexistence possibilities that should develop from working together with fellow residents. I have blogged many times on this issue and that what results from such an approach is:

a) Arabs assume the US does not want the Jewish communities to exist - out of sight, out of mind.

b) If America acts in a semi-apartheid fashion, why not them.

c) If those are the "Palestinian territories", is that because they were the Palestine Mandate or they belong to a supposed national grouping called "Palestinians" as opposed to "Israelis"? And that group legitimately excludes Jewish residents?

d) "Among Palestinians" means not among Jewish Israelis?

Some affair.

Limited to Arabs only.

^

Conservation in Judea and Samaria, Too? --- UPDATED

I've just read this:

U.S. Consul General Launches Conservation Project at Solomon’s Pools in Bethlehem
Jerusalem – Consul General Donald Blome joined Palestinian officials and dignitaries to launch a major conservation project to protect and preserve the famous Solomon’s Pools archaeological site in Bethlehem. The USD $750,000 project consists of a $500,000 grant from the State Department’s Ambassador Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) and a complementary $250,000 grant from Consulate General Jerusalem. Both projects will be implemented through a partnership with the Solomon’s Pools Preservation and Development Center (SPPD). The program will help protect this historic site, damaged in recent years by erosion, and support tourism and the Palestinian economy. The project includes a supporting conference and other events.
In his remarks, Consul General Donald Blome said, “This contribution from the U.S. government not only underscores America’s respect and admiration for Palestinian heritage and its treasured antiquities, but also the imperative of supporting the Palestinian economy as an essential element for peace.”...
The U.S. Government, through the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation, supports the preservation of cultural sites, cultural objects, and forms of traditional cultural expression in more than 100 countries around the world. 

I don't think I need to be too verbose in my reaction.

First of all, thanks for conserving a Jewish engineering site.

The pools were part of a complex ancient water system, initially built between sometime around 100 BCE and ca. 30 CE.

...The growing water needs of the Jerusalem Temple and the pilgrims it attracted during the later part of the Second Temple period, led to efforts to create a conduit able to reach the relatively high top of the Temple Mount by gravity alone...The water system gradually created consisted of two aqueducts feeding the pools, which themselves acted as a collection and distribution facility, and of three further aqueducts carrying the water north to Jerusalem (two) and to Herodium (the third one). Together, the five aqueducts totalled some 80 kilometres in length.

...evidence suggests that the lower pool was probably constructed during the Hasmonean period, between mid-second and mid-first century BCE....A second phase occurred when Herod the Great, using Roman engineering and in connection with his rebuilding program of the Second Temple, created the sophisticated Wadi el-Byiar Aqueduct, which fed the upper pool...In a third phase, Roman prefect Pontius Pilate built 39 kilometres (24 mi) of aqueduct bringing yet more water to Solomon's Pools from the large collection pools at Arrub to the south.

Of course, there's always an alternative "fake archaeological facts" version:

"The pools were named for Ottoman Sultan Suleiman al-Kanuni [Suleiman the Magnificent], who renovated and expanded them," Palestinian archeologist Nour Taha told Anadolu Agency, in reference to the three ancient water cisterns in the village of Al-Kahder located some 5km south of Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The Ottoman sultan restored the pools in 1536 and extended the aqueducts that supplied the walled city of Jerusalem with water.

And this:

some Palestinians and others involved with the renovation of the poolsbelieve that the traces found through excavation in the last centuries point only as far back as the first century AD

Secondly, are you sure the area is actually a "country"?

In 1931 (view from the west and notice how densely populated the area):

Third, there are other sites that need US support in that region including Tel Shiloh, Tel Hebron, Herodian, Sebastia and others.  Just ask me.

Until then, is the US Consulate insistent in ignoring Jewish needs and rights?

As my friend EG wrote of Blome's words:

This statement is an acceptance of the UNESCO/Arab position. Jewish antiquities are renamed as "Palestinian heritage"

_____________________

UPDATE

Jewish Press:

We wrote the following to some State Department officials here in Israel:

We'd like to receive a clarification from the State Department and the Embassy regarding the recent statement by the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem vis-a-vis Solomon's Pools.

In a statement Consul General Donald Blome said, "This contribution from the U.S. government not only underscores America's respect and admiration for Palestinian heritage and its treasured antiquities, but also the imperative of supporting the Palestinian economy as an essential element for peace."

We'd like the State Department to please clarify exactly how Solomon's Pools -- built by a Jewish king to service the Jewish Temple in the Jewish city of Jerusalem at a point in history approximately 2,000 years prior to Arab Palestinians -- could possibly be considered any part of a "Palestinian heritage."

Considering the recent withdrawal of the United States from UNESCO, due to the one-sided and historically inaccurate positions UNESCO has taken against Israel, will Consul Blome be offering a retraction and/or apology?

We received the following response:

Thank you for raising this to our attention.  The statement you cited had been included in an earlier version of remarks, but then removed after a discussion on the history of the site.  It was not delivered in remarks and should have been removed from the press release - it was left in due to a clerical error.

We are removing the press release from the website and will issue a corrected copy.  Thank you for flagging.

Best regards,

Clayton Alderman

U.S. Consulate General

Press Officer

The Arabic however still reads:

وسينفذ هذا المشروع الذي يجمع ما بين القطاعين العام والخاص إصلاحات طارئة لجزء من الجدار والصهريج الذي انهار في العام الماضي. وسيقوم أيضا بإعادة تأهيل البركة للحد من مخاطر الانهيار في جدرانه ومنصاته. سيقوم المشروع بإصلاح وحماية القنوات وإنشاء مسارات المشي المخصصة وذلك لحماية العناصر الأثرية المحيطة وفي نفس الوقت سيسمح للزائرين بالتجوال في الموقع دون تعريضه لاي ضرر.
"This contribution from the US government not only confirms the American respect and admiration for the Palestinian heritage and its precious effects, but also the need to support the Palestinian economy as an essential element of peace," said US Consul General Donald Blum.

SECOND UPDATE:

The Consul's office has now posted a new, corrected version in both English

We share the hope that this site can be a source of pride, hope, and discovery for people of every culture, religion, and background. Places of this sort of antiquity should stir and inspire all of us to come together and celebrate their beauty.”

and Arabic.

 ^ 

Walking the Land and Calling It 'The West Bank'

Some six weeks ago, sorry for the belated posting, America's Jerusalem Consulate announced that the U.S. Consul General had "launched a hiking journey across entire West Bank" as he had followed the 321 kilometer Masar Ibrahim Al-Khalil trail.  

Here he is:

The Consulate release informed us that the hike

kicked off on May 14 in Rummana village northwest of Jenin, famous for its hilly landscape and olive trees dating back to Roman times.  It ended in Burquin village at a community center renovated recently with support of USAID.   This first segment covered 18 kilometers and will be followed by 21 sequential hikes the Consul General will walk to complete the Abraham path in the coming year.

Consul General Donald Blome was joined by local officials and members of the Masar Ibrahim Al-Khalili organization (it's full name includes this: "Abraham's Path" which indicates the Islamic appropriation of Judaism and Jewish history) as he explained his reasons for launching the journey: “This journey is all about exploring the connection of the people with the land – deep roots formed through nature, culture, art, and agriculture.”

Dear CG Blome,

there is another people, a collective ethnic community, with a connection with the land – deep roots formed through nature, culture, art, and agriculture.

They are called ... Jews.

We wish you physical success in walking the Land of Israel (I don't think anyone refers to it as the Land of Ishmael) and much enjoyment as you pass through the landscape of the historic homeland of the Jewish People.

And, please, feel free to drop when you pass by Shiloh. You come close, I see:

We have archaeological excavations at Tel Shiloh, olive orchards, vineyards, industry, recreational grounds and good people.   The Consulate has my contact details.

____________

UPDATE

Elder of Ziyon has commented, too.

^

Another Reason to Move US Consulate to Ramallah

I have always tried to emphasize that US policy vis-a-vis Jerusalem is an anomaly.

The Consulate still is not officially under the supervision of the embassy.  Its birth registration regulations are non-sensical.  Its attitude to Jews in Jerusalem and the regions of Judea and Samaria border on the segregationist and discriminatory.

Now read this:

"In the spring of 1964, as former U.S. President Lyndon Johnson was preparing for his presidential election campaign, eager to please supporters of Israel, a compromise was reached over a diplomatic controversy regarding passport stamps. It turns out that the consuls at the American consulate in Jerusalem, who reported directly to the State Department in Washington and not to the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, carried a stamp in their passports with the words “Jerusalem, Palestine.” The Israeli government refused to renew their visas, but the Johnson administration dug in its heels for a year, until finding an acceptable formula that was veiled in secrecy.

The consul who had been denied a visa, Thomas Mann [?? see below*], would be issued a second passport that would bear the name Jerusalem without Palestine. Israel would issue him a visa on this passport and, based on that visa number, Mann would be allowed to enter and leave the country. But the passport would be placed in a safe in Washington and Mann would continue to carry his original passport. From then on, the U.S. State Department would desist from noting that new consuls were being posted to Palestine and would no longer use the explosive word on stamps and paperwork. In addition, a claim by Israel that the word Palestine appeared on a sign on the door of the consul’s office was refuted.

All of this was regarding West Jerusalem, which was under Israeli control even before the 1967 Six-Day War."

I remind you: the idea that the internationalization of Jerusalem, supposedly fixed in what is basically a non-document - the 1947 Partition Proposal of the UN that was a dead letter the day after it was voted on being rejected by the Arabs - still holds despite the fact that the plan itself was but to be for a ten-year period after which there was to be a referendum (see "D") is plainly nonsensical.

* As to the official's name, see this:

Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Israel1Washington, March 14, 1964, 10:48 a.m.793. Israel Embassy has been informed of Department's approval of following:
1.We accept Israel Embassy's proposal regarding Munn's passport (Deptel 774 to Tel Aviv)2 as most expedient way to resolve issue, i.e., proposal that we issue Munn second passport without designation Palestine which Israel Embassy will visa and return to Dept for disposition. GOI would then issue border-crossing permit against Israel Embassy visa number, but Munn would retain his present passport.
2.We will cease using “Palestine” in passports as place of assignment and cease issuing, renewing, or amending passports with seal bearing word “Palestine”.
3.If there are no adverse repercussions from foregoing, we will change listing of Jerusalem Consulate General in Foreign Service List so that it would be listed under Jerusalem rather than Palestine.
Rusk
Dept stressed that if there is any publicity over steps 1 and 2, it would be difficult for us to carry out additional steps now contemplated to accommodate Israelis on this issue.3 Israel EmboffGazit said he would immediately refer proposal to GOI. He again asked about plaque over front door of Congen office in Israel-held Jerusalem. Is our understanding correct that plaque does not contain word “Palestine”?4

1. Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1964–66, POL 32–1 PAL. Confidential; Immediate; Limdis. Drafted by Lucien L. Kinsolving; cleared by Davis, Jernegan, Stephen Campbell of IO/UNP, and Harriman's Special Assistant Frederick Chapin; and approved by Harriman. Also sent to Jerusalem and repeated to Amman.

2. Telegram 774 to Tel Aviv, March 5, summarized an informal conversation between Davies and Israeli Minister Gazit concerning Israel's efforts to obtain U.S. agreement to drop the use of “Jerusalem, Palestine” in passports issued or renewed in Jerusalem and issued to officers stationed in Jerusalem. Davies strongly protested Israel’s refusal to honor Consul Robert H. Munn's passport, which contained this usage. (Ibid.) A chronology of discussions on this subject, dating back to February 1963, is attached to A–104 from Jerusalem, March 30. (Ibid.)

3. Telegram 812 to Tel Aviv, March 19, stated that the Department was preparing an order for new seals for the Consulate General, all bearing the designation “Jerusalem” without the word “Palestine.” It instructed the Consulate General to begin using the new seals as soon as they arrived and at the same time to cease using the word “Palestine” on letterheads and in correspondence. (Ibid.)

4. Telegram 316 from Jerusalem, March 15, replied that the word “Palestine” did not appear on any Consulate building. (Ibid.)

Btw, Oren's intelligence was called into question in another matter.

If America's Consulate is so caught up, almost exclusively, with "Palestine", move it to Ramallah.

And while we are on the subject of "Palestine", read on:

Research Memorandum From the Deputy Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (Denney) to Acting Secretary of State Ball1Washington, May 11, 1964.RNA–12

SUBJECT

The Search for a “Palestine Entity”

The projected conference of Palestinians now scheduled to take place in Jerusalem late in May 1964 focuses attention on various attempts of the Arabs to organize their Palestinian brethren into a group to represent the common interest. This paper has been produced in response to a request for a study of the past history and current status of the Palestine entity question.

Abstract

The Arab states once again are giving prominence to plans for the establishment of some form of body to represent all the Palestine Arabs. At the Arab Summit Conference in Cairo in January 1964, Ahmad al-Shuqayri, a Palestinian long prominent in Palestine Arab affairs, was designated to organize a so-called “Palestine entity.” Thus far, Shuqayri has announced a “National Charter for Palestine” and a “Constitution of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.” These documents will be laid before a conference of Palestinians scheduled to open in Jerusalem on May 28, 1964. He has announced also the formation of a “Palestine Liberation Front” to be composed of commando units to be kept combat ready. While Shuqayri has been attempting to gain support for this Charter and for the establishment of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestine Liberation Front, his rivals, notably Hajj Amin al-Husayni, have been organizing to oppose these schemes with the support of Arab states opposed to Nasser. The current endeavor to create a Palestine Entity, like previous attempts, seems destined to become a victim of the continuing struggle for power among Palestine Arab leaders and of the contest over the balance of power in the Arab world.

And we'll add this December 1965 memo, too:

...Formation of the Palestine Liberation Organization is the latest of several attempts to provide a political focus for the refugees, and it has the nominal backing of the Arab League. At the same time, however, two independent terrorist groups seem to be trying to trigger incidents which would bring the Arab states into military action against Israel.

Jordanian King Husayn opposes either approach to eliminating Israeli rule because his country is the Arab state most exposed to any Israeli reprisal. Moreover, Jordan includes part of Palestine and is the haven for half of the refugees, and Husayn is wary of pro-Nasir subversion among Jordan’s Palestinians. Syria, on the other hand, whose support of the terrorism offers greater provocation to the Israelis, enjoys the advantage of being more difficult to retaliate against.

Although Nasir, like Husayn, seems anxious to avoid any escalation of the sporadic border incidents, these Palestine-Arab activities could, with little advance notice, lead to the largest Arab-Israeli clashes since Suez.

And this from March 1965:

There are of course fundamental differences between the PLO's views of the Palestine problem and our own. We are as a matter of national policy committed to support the continued existence of Israel; PLO officials repeatedly have declared it is that organization's aim to see the state of Israel destroyed. We are committed to a peaceful solution of the whole complex of Palestine issues; the PLO's declared policies increasingly indicate it sees no alternative to solving these problems than by force of arms...We believe that productive relations can be established between PLO members and USG officers. We do not believe that we should undertake any kind of broad-scale campaign to establish such relations, but neither should we ignore opportunities as might present themselves. Such relations we believe are another way of demonstrating to the Palestinians and other Arabs our continuing friendship for the Palestinian people. There is of course the possibility of acquiring useful intelligence... If PLO officials wish to call at USG offices they should be received at a subordinate level. Officers should not attend official PLO functions. There is no objection, however, to US officers’ attendance of small, informal functions given by PLO officers or ones at which the latter are present, even as guests of honor.

Officers may where appropriate maintain unostentatious personal contact with PLO officials. They may attend official host country functions at which PLO officials are present, though not ones at which they are guests of honor.

Okay.

One more:

Mr. Jones stated that the Department of State was unable to maintain formal relations with the Palestine Liberation Organization. On the legal side, it did not represent a sovereign entity. On the practical side, it was widely regarded in the United States as an organization dedicated to terminating the existence of a state that we recognized. Naqib suggested that the Department view the PLO as an organization dedicated to promoting the rights of the Palestinians. Mr. Jones said that on that basis he would be pleased to provide any personal assistance to Mr.Naqib.

UPDATE

I continued searching and found this amazing reflection from Luke Battle * in the situation described above on the removal of "Jerusalem, Palestine" characterization:

Letter From the Ambassador to the United Arab Republic (Battle) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs (Talbot)Cairo, October 27, 1964.

Dear Phil:

I did not want to let Ridge Knight's letter and memorandum of October 162 go by without some comment.

I think Ridge's basic thesis is right. The United States is apparently a helpless witness to Israel's inexorable drive not only to gain full sovereignty over the demilitarized zones but to “remilitarize” them. Therefore we get bogged down in details—“Black lines,” “Brown lines,” etc.—and end up assisting the Israelis in a process which is a clear violation of the letter and spirit of the Armistice Agreement and of the UN Charter. What should add to the Syrians' apprehensions re Israel intentions and latent U.S. support for them is the fact that the Israelis in 1955 possessed themselves of the Nitzana demilitarized zone on the Egyptian-Israel armistice line and now operate that region in fee simple with none to protest the presence of Israel armed forces there.

We are unable to persuade Israel to return to the Israel-Syrian Mixed Armistice Commission so we get directly involved in the details of General Odd Bull's informal negotiations with the parties. We have been unable to persuade the Israelis to withdraw their unilateral denunciation of the Egyptian-Israel Armistice Agreement so we involve ourselves in the details of financing and administering the United Nations Emergency Force.

We are unable to formalize the international community's very real interest in Jerusalem. Under Israeli pressure, we have now removed the designation “Jerusalem, Palestine” from our directories. Maybe this was the right thing to do. Maybe Jerusalem will just disappear. Maybe the next change in the Foreign Service List will be to call Israel-occupied Jerusalem “East Tel Aviv.”

We are unable to obtain Israel compliance with UN resolutions calling for the repatriation and compensation of the refugees. Therefore we natter at UNRWA to prune its lists and cut expenses and keep reminding the Arab host governments that it is American bounty that keeps the unfortunate refugees alive.
The above picture is not very pleasant. It is compounded by the fact that Israel and its friends in the United States have been able to establish widespread credence in an upside-down world where Syria is the trigger happy party in the demilitarized zones, Nasser is dedicated to the destruction of “peace-loving” Israel, and the plight of the Arab refugees is somehow the fault of the Arab host governments.

All the above is said neither in sorrow nor in anger...

*  This from a Library of Congress Interview with Lucius D. Battle 

Most of this criticism goes back to the era of the 1940's when it was quite true that almost all Middle Eastern experts who looked at the question of our relations and our basic interests in the Arab world believed that the Israelis, or rather that the creation of Israel, would have a very detrimental effect on Western and U.S. relations with the Arab world. And that while the plight of the Jewish people around the world was an extremely unfortunate one, that the Arabs had certainly as much legal right as the Israelis to Palestine. The sad thing about this issue is, in my own humble opinion, that both sides have an almost unassailable moral and legal case. The validity of either case hinges on when you begin the discussion. If you go back far enough, you can make a very compelling case for the Israelis; it depends on when you start, and it's a case on which justice and injustice is clear on both sides, and there is no answer at this stage, in my judgment, except to accept the verdict of history and to support the continued existence of Israel. Now, this does not necessarily mean that this should involve us in any support from a military point of view nor with American manpower. That decision has to be made by the President of the United States and in the context of the situation that exists at the time when this issue comes to the front. Now, if we have another round of hostilities—I'm supposed to talk of history and not the future—but if we have another round of hostilities, serious hostilities in the Middle East, which at the moment appears quite likely, the President will have to decide in the light of the situation then existing whether he believes that he should because of the threat of the Russians, or because of the Russian involvement on behalf of the Arabs, or what have you. He has to decide then how far we will go. We are not committed; we have no commitment to come to the military defense of the Israelis; we have a general commitment to the territorial integrity of all the countries in the area 

^