WASHINGTON – Mike Pompeo next week will become the first US secretary of state to visit one of Israel’s settlements on occupied Palestinian territory that are considered illegal by most of the world, reports said yesterday.
He will visit the Psagot winery in the West Bank, and also be the first secretary of state to travel to the Golan Heights, whose annexation by Israel was recognised by outgoing president Donald Trump, said Israeli newspaper Haaretz and news site Axios.
The State Department did not immediately confirm the stops. In a statement on Tuesday, it said only that Pompeo will visit Israel and meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Pompeo’s trip comes two months before the inauguration of president-elect Joe Biden, a past critic of settlements who has pledged to put more diplomatic effort into creating a Palestinian state.
The visit comes exactly one year after Pompeo said the US does not consider Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian territory to be illegal, putting Washington at odds with United Nations Security Council resolutions and virtually all other countries except Israel.
The Psagot winery was at the centre of a dispute as it unsuccessfully challenged a European decision to put a label on all products that come from settlements on occupied land.
Axios and Haaretz pointed out that Psagot later rolled out a wine label named after Pompeo in tribute to his stance.
Pompeo has made little secret of his aspirations for higher office and frequently pointed to his support for Israel, a major cause for his Republican Party’s evangelical Christian base. – AFP, November 13, 2020
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