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Original title: Visit to the West Bank and Pompeo settlements in the Golan Heights “Farewell tour of the Middle East” was criticized and provoked
Reference News Network reported on November 21 that foreign media said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, became the first US senior diplomat to visit Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank on 19. In the same time, the US State Department announced that the products from these settlements could be labeled “Made in Israel”, which is a major change in US Israeli-Palestinian policy.
According to an Associated Press in Jerusalem on November 19, these two actions reflect the Trump administration has accepted Israeli settlements, while most of the Palestinians and the international community believe that Israeli settlements violate international law and are peaceful between Palestine and Israel. A big obstacle.
Pompeo also announced that the United States will call the Palestinian-led international boycott of Israel an “anti-Semitic” movement and will prohibit any organization participating in the movement from receiving funding from the US government. It is unclear which groups will be affected by this.
According to the report, Pompeo’s earlier statement is largely symbolic, and the government of President-elect Joe Biden may revoke these policies because Biden promised to treat Israelis and Palestinians more fairly. However, these statements show the close relationship between the outgoing Trump administration and the hardline government led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Pompeo also visited the Golan Heights, a strategically significant height that Israel seized and annexed from Syria in the 1967 Middle East War. Unlike other members of the international community, the Trump administration recognized last year that the Golan Heights they are part of Israel.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi and retired General Avigdor Kahalani accompanied Pompeo on the tour. Kahalani is known for leading the Israeli army against the Syrian tank invasion during the 1973 Middle East War.
According to a report by Agence France-Presse in the highlands of the Golan on 19 November, Secretary of State visited the settlements occupied West Bank and the highlands of the Golan for the first time to fully defend the label “Made in Israel”: Pompeo He used it on the 19th. A farewell tour of the Middle East to consolidate the Trump administration’s legacy in favor of the Hebrew nation.
Under high-level military escort, the US Secretary of State reportedly visited the Golan Heights on the afternoon of the 19th. This is a strategic area that Israel seized from Syria during the 1967 Middle East War.
On the night of the 19, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued by the Syrian Arab News Agency, the national news agency, that for Damascus, this visit “is a provocative means before the end of the administration’s mandate. Trump and is sovereignty over the Syrian Arab Republic. Flagrant violation. ” He also stated that “such a sinful visit is encouraging (Israel) to continue its dangerous hostile methods.”
In 2019, US President Trump reportedly made the United States the first country to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights. There are currently 25,000 Israelis and approximately 23,000 Druze living in these highlands. Some claim to be Syrian and have the identity of Israeli residents.
Pompeo stated forcefully: “This is part of Israel and an important part of Israel.”
The report noted that under the impetus of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and since Trump entered the White House, Israeli settlements have developed by leaps and bounds in recent years.
More than 450,000 Israelis in the West Bank live in settlements (considered illegal under international law), and another 2.8 million Palestinians also live there.
A year ago, Pompeo announced that, according to Washington, these settlements no longer violate international law.
He reiterated on the 19th: “For a long time, the State Council has taken the wrong approach to settlements … Today, it must strongly insist that the settlements are legal.”
Furthermore, according to an Associated Press report in Jerusalem on November 20, US Secretary of State Pompeo visited a Christian Zionist museum in Jerusalem on the 20th and then ended his visit to Israel. This museum was created by a prominent evangelical consultant to the Trump administration.
The day before visiting the museum, Pompeo reportedly visited an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, becoming the first US Secretary of State to visit an Israeli settlement. It also announced a new policy that allows products from the settlements exported to the United States to be labeled “Made in Israel.” He also proposed a new measure to combat the international boycott led by Palestine.
The report noted that these measures announced by Pompeo on the 19th are largely symbolic and are likely to be canceled by the new administration of President-elect Biden. But this fully demonstrates America’s support for Israel and its Christian allies.
(Editor in charge: Miao Su)
