The Israeli settlement of Har Homa is seen overlooking the biblical town of Bethlehem, West Bank, in December 2023. On Wednesday, The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem announced it would offer for the first time passport services in the West Bank. File Photo by Debbie Hill/ UPI | License Photo
The United States will offer passport services for the first time in Israeli settlements in the illegally occupied West Bank.
The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem announced in a statement Wednesday that in an effort to reach all Americans, consular officers “will be providing routine passport services in Efrat on Friday.”
The move is expected to draw criticism from foreign governments and human rights advocates, as it appears to legitimize Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land.
Efrat was established in the West Bank on April 10, 1983, according to the Israeli settlement’s official website. However, Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem are widely regarded as illegal under international law.
The U.S. Embassy said it has planned outreach events to several other West Bank settlements over the next several months, saying it is part of “our Freedom 250 initiative,” which celebrates 250 years of the United States’ independence.
The Palestinian Authority’s Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission said offering passport services in Israeli settlements is “a clear violation of international law.”
Minister Mu’ayyad Shaa’ban, head of the commission, said settlements are illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, which prohibits an occupying power from transferring parts of its civilian population to a territory it occupies, while U.N. resolutions and an International Court of Justice advisory opinion affirm their illegality and say they must not be legally recognized.
“Extending consular services to include a settlement established on confiscated Palestinian land entails a breach of the principle of non-recognition of an unlawful situation,” Shaa’ban said in a statement.
“This step contradicts declared commitments to supporting the two-state solution, as it effectively entrenches a settlement reality that undermines the possibility of establishing an independent and sovereign Palestinian state.”
Hamas also lambasted the move, calling it “a dangerous precedent.”
“We warn of the danger of this step and its consequences, especially in light of American statements that encourage the occupation to expand its control, which requires an international position of pressure to stop this encroachment and aggression against our people and our land,” the militant organization said in a statement.
The United States once held that the settlements were inconsistent with international law, but President Donald Trump has taken several actions over his two nonconsecutive terms to validate the legitimacy of these Israeli settlements.
During his first term, Trump recognized Israel’s capital as Jerusalem and moved the U.S. Embassy there. Then, in 2019, his State Department reversed the long-standing U.S. policy that the settlements were inconsistent with international law.
His 2020 peace plan included Israel maintaining its settlements and incorporating the vast majority of them into Israeli territory.
Since returning to office in January 2025, Trump has removed Biden-era sanctions imposed on violent settlers and settler groups.
Israel was quick to thank the United States for offering its passport services in eFrat.
“We welcome the historic decisions by the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem to extend consular services to American citizens in Judea and Samaria,” the Israel Foreign Ministry said in a social media statement, referring to the West Bank by its Israeli administrative term.
“Thank you @USAmbIsrael for making the relation between Israel and the U.S. closer and stronger than ever.”
The announcement comes as Israel has adopted recent changes to reclassify Palestinian land as state land, accelerating illegal settlement activity and the other moves to solidify Israel’s entrenchment in the region.
On Tuesday, the foreign ministers of 19 mostly European countries issued a statement condemning the “sweeping extensions to unlawful Israeli control over the West Bank.”
“We reiterate our rejection of all measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem,” they said.
