The main building, one of the first houses built outside the Old City walls, was constructed in 1868 by Ferdinand Vester, a German Lutheran missionary.

In 1952, the consulate leased a second building which provided American citizen and visa services on Nablus Road, East Jerusalem.

[12] On 18 October 2018, the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the US would be merging the US Consulate General with the newly-relocated US Embassy in Jerusalem into a single mission.

[4] While the announcement was welcomed by the Israeli Government, Palestinian officials accused the Trump Administration for supporting Israel's claim to Jerusalem.

[5][6][7][8] In response to the Consulate General's merger into the US Embassy, Saeb Erekat, the secretary-general of the PLO's Executive Committee urged the international community to boycott the new Palestinian Affairs Unit.

[20][21][22] Meanwhile, fellow Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi called the closure of the Consulate General "an assault on Palestinian rights and identity.

While the OPA is still considered part of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, it reports directly to the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs.

[10] In October 2010, consular services were moved to a new building complex (just east of the Arnona neighborhood of West Jerusalem) bisected by the Green Line and thus partly in what was defined in 1949 as No Man's Land.