Pompeo visits Israeli-occupied West Bank and Golan Heights

Shaar Binyamin (West Bank), November 19

Mike Pompeo on Thursday grew to become the primary US secretary of state to go to an Israeli West Bank settlement and the Golan Heights, in a present of solidarity that led Palestinians to accuse him of serving to to cement Israeli management over occupied territory.

Pompeo’s journeys got here throughout the Israeli leg of what could also be his final tour of the Middle East within the last months of President Donald Trump’s administration.

Trump delighted Israel in 2019 by recognising Israel’s declare to sovereignty over the realm of the Golan Heights that it captured from Syria in a 1967 conflict and later annexed, in a transfer that was not recognised by a lot of the worldwide group.

Last 12 months, Pompeo, an evangelical Christian, broke with many years of US international coverage to announce that the United States below Trump not considered Israel’s settlements within the West Bank as “inconsistent with international law”.

These and different choices have been greeted with dismay by the Palestinians, who boycotted the Trump White House for practically three years, accusing it of constant pro-Israel bias.

The Palestinians have indicated they might resume relations as regular with Washington as soon as President-elect Joe Biden takes workplace, extensively seen as a gesture of goodwill in direction of his future administration.

However it’s unclear what number of of Trump’s choices will likely be reversed by a Biden administration.

On Thursday morning Pompeo appeared alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who mentioned each Pompeo and Trump have been long-standing mates of Israel.

Pompeo mentioned the 2 leaders mentioned Iran, the perceived risk of which has shifted political fault traces within the area, uniting Israel and Gulf Arab states in concern of Tehran.

He additionally issued pointers for Israeli merchandise made in settlements to be labelled “Made in Israel” or “Product of Israel” when exported to the United States, eradicating the excellence between items made inside Israel and people produced in occupied territory.

West Bank

But first Pompeo travelled the brief distance from Jerusalem to the Israeli-occupied West Bank – recognized to most Israelis as Judea and Samaria – the place greater than 440,000 Jewish settlers stay uneasily amongst three million Palestinians, largely in fortified hilltop settlements.

He dined at Shaar Binyamin, an Israeli industrial zone simply north of Jerusalem the place Psagot vineyard – taking its title from a close-by settlement – has a mix named after him.

“Enjoyed lunch at the scenic Psagot Winery today. Unfortunately, Psagot and other businesses have been targeted by pernicious EU (European Union) labeling efforts that facilitate the boycott of Israeli companies. The US stands with Israel and will not tolerate any form of delegitimization,” Pompeo wrote on Twitter.

Under EU pointers farm and different merchandise made in Israeli settlements and exported to EU member international locations needs to be clearly labeled as coming from the settlements, which the bloc considers unlawful below worldwide regulation.

Pompeo’s go to departed from previous coverage that had saved prime US officers away from settlements, which Palestinians view as obstacles to a viable future state.

Palestinians within the space say that the Psagot vineyard was constructed partially on Palestinian land close to the cities of Ramallah and Al-Bireh.

“This land has been handed down from generation to generation to its Palestinian owners,” Musa Jwayyed, a Palestinian-American who sits on Al-Bireh’s metropolis council.

“I am a US citizen, a taxpayer, educated, loyal, ok? Why do these settlers have more rights than I do?”

Golan Heights

Pompeo later flew to the Golan Heights, a mountainous and strategic plateau that overlooks Israel, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

“I very much wanted to come here on this trip to tell the world that we have it right. That we, the United States has it right. That Israel has it right,” Pompeo mentioned from a hilltop wanting into an space of the Syrian Golan that was till lately managed by militias combating the Syrian civil conflict.

“Each nation has the right to defend itself in its own sovereignty,” he mentioned.

Such indicators of help left many Israelis backing Trump’s bid for re-election.

But Palestinian negotiator Hanan Ashrawi accused Pompeo of utilizing Trump’s last weeks in workplace “to set yet another illegal precedent, violate international law and perhaps to advance his own future political ambitions”. Reuters