On the surface, it looked like an innocent event — even the local Palestinian hotel didn’t think twice before renting the organizers space to conduct their workshop.

In response to an inquiry by Al-Monitor, the US Embassy in Jerusalem said, “Palestinians from East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza who have participated in US-sponsored exchange programs [such as the Fulbright or International Visitor Leadership Program] were planning to network with each other and engage in leadership and capacity building activities.”

The meeting of Palestinian alumni of American universities scheduled for Aug. 19, which was apparently initiated and paid for by the newly established Palestinian Affairs Unit of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, never took place.

What happened is that when Palestinian activists realized what was happening, they moved fast to put a stop to what they considered US attempts to cause division within Palestinian society. Issam Baker, the coordinator of the National and Islamic Forces in Ramallah and al-Bireh, told the Wattan news agency that “the conference is a sinister act by the US government to cause division in the Palestinian street.”