The United States will this week dispatch consular officers to provide on-site passport services in the West Bank settlement of Efrat, U.S. officials said, representing the first occasion that American consular staff have offered such services inside a settlement in the occupied territory.
In a post on X, the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem said consular officers will deliver "routine passport services in Efrat on Friday, February 27." The embassy identified Efrat as a settlement located south of the Palestinian city of Bethlehem and noted that many American immigrants live there. The embassy also said it intends to arrange similar field visits to the West Bank city of Ramallah, to the settlement of Beitar Illit near Bethlehem, and to cities within Israel such as Haifa.
Officials highlighted that the United States already provides passport and consular services at its embassy in Jerusalem and at a branch office in Tel Aviv. An embassy spokesperson said: "This is the first time we have provided consular services to a settlement in the West Bank." The spokesperson added that comparable services are being offered to American-Palestinian dual nationals in the West Bank.
Most countries regard Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal under international law pertaining to military occupations. Israel disputes that assessment. The settlements and questions over control of the territory remain central to competing national claims: Palestinians have long sought the West Bank as part of a future independent state alongside Gaza and East Jerusalem, while many on Israel's right advocate annexation.
Political dynamics inside Israel have been shifting in ways that affect settlement policy. This month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing cabinet approved measures that ease the ability of settlers to seize Palestinian land, officials said. Last week, the cabinet approved measures described by Palestinians as steps to tighten Israel's control over the West Bank and to make it easier for settlers to buy land, a move Palestinians called a "de facto annexation." Israel's ruling coalition, which draws substantial support from settlement communities, includes many members who support formal annexation of the West Bank - territory captured in the 1967 Middle East war that Israel says has biblical and historical ties.
The U.S. posture toward annexation has been mixed. President Donald Trump has publicly stated his opposition to Israeli annexation of the West Bank, yet the administration has not taken measures to halt settlement activity. Rights groups and critics say settlement activity has increased since the administration took office last year.
Population figures underline the scale of the issue in the territory: more than 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, which is also home to roughly 3 million Palestinians. The number of dual American-Israeli nationals living in the West Bank is estimated to be in the tens of thousands, the embassy said, though it reported that it did not have specific data on the number of Americans living in Efrat.
Much of the West Bank remains under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule in areas administered by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority. The contested nature of authority on the ground, combined with active settlement expansion and recent cabinet approvals, sets the context for the U.S. decision to send consular staff into a settlement.
Context and considerations
- The consular visits are framed by the U.S. Embassy as efforts to reach Americans living abroad wherever they reside, including American immigrants in settlements and American-Palestinian dual nationals in the West Bank.
- The embassy maintains regular consular operations at its Jerusalem post and at a Tel Aviv branch office; on-site services in settlements represent a procedural change in where those services are offered.
- Policy shifts by Israel's cabinet and ongoing settlement expansion are positions of contention among Palestinians, Israeli settlers, and international observers, shaping the political environment in which the consular visits take place.
This development adds a new operational element to the longstanding complexities of governance, population movements and diplomatic engagement in the West Bank and surrounding areas.