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Image posted, EPA
This will likely be Pompeo’s last visit to the region as secretary of state.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is touring an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, in a precedent for a high-ranking US official.
Pompeo’s visit to the Psjot settlement comes a year after he said the settlements do not violate international law, contrary to the long-established position of the United States on the matter.
The statement infuriated the Palestinians, who are opposed to settling on lands they consider part of a future independent state.
Pompeo is also scheduled to visit the occupied Golan Heights at a later time.
Last year, US President Donald Trump recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the heights it captured in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981.
Pompeo arrived in Israel on Wednesday for a visit, which is expected to be his last before leaving office in January.
On Thursday, the US Secretary of State held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.
He told a joint press conference that the US State Department would announce that the activities of the “BDS” organization, which calls for a comprehensive boycott of Israel due to its policies towards the Palestinians, are considered anti-Semitic.
He added: “We will take steps to identify organizations that engage in hateful activities, such as BDS, and we will withdraw American support for them.
Israel says that BDS opposes its existence as a state and is motivated by anti-Semitism, but the organization responds that Israel uses these accusations to cover up what it does to the Palestinians.
Pompeo visited a winery in the settlement of Psagot, near the city of Ramallah, where a type of wine was named in his honor.
More than 600,000 Jews live in 140 settlements built in the Palestinian territories since Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem in 1967.
Image posted, Reuters
Palestinians demonstrated near the Psjot settlement on Wednesday to protest the visit.
The majority of the international community considers the settlements illegal under international law, but Israel denies this.
Palestinian leaders have warned that the US Secretary of State’s visit to the settlement is a provocation and a dangerous precedent.
Dozens of Palestinians protested in the city of Al-Bireh on Wednesday.
US President-elect Joe Biden is expected to cancel Pompeo’s statement on the settlements, but said he will not reverse Trump’s 2017 decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Regarding the Golan, Pompeo said: “Just admitting that it is part of Israel … It was a decision made by President Trump, which is a historically important decision and is simply an acknowledgment of reality.”
Last year, Syria called Trump’s decision a “flagrant attack on sovereignty.”
The international community does not recognize the annexation of the Golan Heights by Israel, which Syria demands to return.
