The State Department acknowledged today that Jerusalem is “a city,” not a “nation” or “a country” and indicated that it considers residents of the West Bank to be Jordanians. The mislabeling of Jerusalem was brought to the State Department’s attention by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency after the Department released the names of museum directors from “eighteen nations” including “Jerusalem” who are currently on a tour of seven American cities as guests of the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
The delegate from Jerusalem was identified as Ms. Abu-Hajj who is director general of the Islamic Museum, Haram-es-Sharif, in Jerusalem. In response to the JTA’s queries, the State Department said that she is a Jordanian citizen travelling on a lassies-passer issued by the Israeli Ministry of Interior. The Department added that she was selected for the visit by the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem which nominates “people from the West Bank area” to participate in international exchange visits sponsored by the State Department.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
