Mike Pompeo will visit an Israeli settlement in the West Bank
In a first for a secretary of state, ally of Donald Trump will go to the Israeli settlement of Psagot, near the Palestinian city of Ramallah
By JTA November 14, 2020
Mike Pompeo IS A RIGHT WING WHITE CHRISTIAN NATIONALIST
Mike Pompeo is planning to visit an Israeli West Bank settlement, the first time a secretary of state will have made such a visit.
For the visit during the Trump administration’s lame-duck period, he has chosen a settlement that is home to a winery that created a special label in his honour.
The visit, planned for next week, will take Pompeo to the Israeli settlement of Psagot, near the Palestinian city of Ramallah, according to Axios. The visit comes roughly a year after Pompeo annulled a longstanding State Department legal opinion declaring settlements illegal. It also comes after the release earlier this year of the Trump administration’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, under whose terms Israeli settlements would be annexed to Israel.
Psagot is not part of the three settlement blocs that, in earlier rounds of peace negotiations, were widely expected to be annexed to Israel. But Pompeo reportedly chose it because, following his annulment of the State Department legal opinion, a winery in Psagot introduced a label named after him.
Pompeo was also the first secretary of state to visit the Western Wall in eastern Jerusalem with Israeli officials, which is also in territory much of the world considers occupied by Israel. This year, he gave a speech at the Republican National Convention delivered remotely from Jerusalem.
Pompeo will also be visiting the Golan Heights, an area that, like the West Bank, Israel captured in the 1967 Six Day War. But unlike the West Bank, Israel formally annexed the Golan Heights, a move recognised by the Trump administration last year.
Also on Thursday, Haaretz reported that Jerusalem is expediting approval of construction in the eastern part of the city in anticipation of the incoming Joe Biden administration. The city fears Biden may freeze construction over the Green Line, the border that separates eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank from Israel proper.
When Biden was vice president, Jerusalem approved building in the city over the Green Line soon after he had a formal dinner with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which became a diplomatic embarrassment. At the time, the Obama administration was pushing for renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
In a first for a secretary of state, ally of Donald Trump will go to the Israeli settlement of Psagot, near the Palestinian city of Ramallah
By JTA November 14, 2020
Mike Pompeo IS A RIGHT WING WHITE CHRISTIAN NATIONALIST
Mike Pompeo is planning to visit an Israeli West Bank settlement, the first time a secretary of state will have made such a visit.
For the visit during the Trump administration’s lame-duck period, he has chosen a settlement that is home to a winery that created a special label in his honour.
The visit, planned for next week, will take Pompeo to the Israeli settlement of Psagot, near the Palestinian city of Ramallah, according to Axios. The visit comes roughly a year after Pompeo annulled a longstanding State Department legal opinion declaring settlements illegal. It also comes after the release earlier this year of the Trump administration’s Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, under whose terms Israeli settlements would be annexed to Israel.
Psagot is not part of the three settlement blocs that, in earlier rounds of peace negotiations, were widely expected to be annexed to Israel. But Pompeo reportedly chose it because, following his annulment of the State Department legal opinion, a winery in Psagot introduced a label named after him.
Pompeo was also the first secretary of state to visit the Western Wall in eastern Jerusalem with Israeli officials, which is also in territory much of the world considers occupied by Israel. This year, he gave a speech at the Republican National Convention delivered remotely from Jerusalem.
Pompeo will also be visiting the Golan Heights, an area that, like the West Bank, Israel captured in the 1967 Six Day War. But unlike the West Bank, Israel formally annexed the Golan Heights, a move recognised by the Trump administration last year.
Also on Thursday, Haaretz reported that Jerusalem is expediting approval of construction in the eastern part of the city in anticipation of the incoming Joe Biden administration. The city fears Biden may freeze construction over the Green Line, the border that separates eastern Jerusalem and the West Bank from Israel proper.
When Biden was vice president, Jerusalem approved building in the city over the Green Line soon after he had a formal dinner with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which became a diplomatic embarrassment. At the time, the Obama administration was pushing for renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
Pompeo visit to Palestine settlement 'dangerous'
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wears a protective face mask on 29 September 2020 [ARIS MESSINIS/POOL/AFP/Getty Images]
November 14, 2020 MEMO
The Palestinian Authority (PA)'s Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, Fatah and Hamas agreed on Friday that the planned visit by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank would be too "dangerous".
Reported by Wafa news agency, Shtayyeh believes that the planned visit aims to "legitimise the settlements" and create "a dangerous precedent that violates international law."
Meanwhile, member of Fatah's Executive Committee Hussein Al-Sheikh tweeted: "Pompeo's planned visit is a clear violation of international law," noting that US administration considers settlements illegal.
Pompeo would become the first US secretary of state to visit one of the settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are considered illegal by most of the international community.
Hamas Spokesperson Hazim Qasim expressed: "Pompeo's visit to settlements in occupied West Bank and Golan Heights is an American aggression on the rights of our Palestinian people and Arab nation."
Qasim reiterated "this visit reflects the persistence of US administration on the implementation of the deal of the century," during the last days of President Donald Trump in office.
"This US behaviour reflects the US and Pompeo's aggressive and bullying logic," Qasim concluded.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wears a protective face mask on 29 September 2020 [ARIS MESSINIS/POOL/AFP/Getty Images]
November 14, 2020 MEMO
The Palestinian Authority (PA)'s Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, Fatah and Hamas agreed on Friday that the planned visit by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank would be too "dangerous".
Reported by Wafa news agency, Shtayyeh believes that the planned visit aims to "legitimise the settlements" and create "a dangerous precedent that violates international law."
Meanwhile, member of Fatah's Executive Committee Hussein Al-Sheikh tweeted: "Pompeo's planned visit is a clear violation of international law," noting that US administration considers settlements illegal.
Pompeo would become the first US secretary of state to visit one of the settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are considered illegal by most of the international community.
Hamas Spokesperson Hazim Qasim expressed: "Pompeo's visit to settlements in occupied West Bank and Golan Heights is an American aggression on the rights of our Palestinian people and Arab nation."
Qasim reiterated "this visit reflects the persistence of US administration on the implementation of the deal of the century," during the last days of President Donald Trump in office.
"This US behaviour reflects the US and Pompeo's aggressive and bullying logic," Qasim concluded.
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