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On Thursday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that his country has classified the products of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank as Israeli.
Pompeo’s announcement came in a statement issued in conjunction with his visit to the “Psagot” settlement factory in Ramallah, in the first visit by a US secretary of state to a settlement. The US State Department described Pompeo’s visit in particular, and no Israeli officials accompanied him there.
During the visit, Pompeo announced that the United States would classify Israeli exports from occupied West Bank settlements as Israeli. He said that all producers within areas where Israel exercises relevant powers must label products in the name of Israel or an Israeli or Israeli-made product when exporting to the United States.
The US Secretary of State emphasized that the new instructions apply primarily to Area C, which is part of the West Bank that is completely controlled by Israel and inhabited by a majority of settlers.
Earlier Thursday, Pompeo said Washington would view the global BDS campaign as “anti-Semitic.” “I want you to know that we will take immediate action to identify the organizations involved in the abhorrent boycott behavior and withdraw the US government’s support for such groups,” he said at a joint press conference in Jerusalem, addressing the prime minister. Israeli Benjamin Netanyahu, describing the BDS movement as “cancer.” .
In the context, a US diplomatic delegation visited, on Wednesday night, the advanced settlement “City of David” established on the lands of the Wadi Hilweh neighborhood in the town of Silwan, south of Jerusalem, amid road closures and the massive deployment of the Israeli occupation forces at the site.
Before the arrival of the delegation, residents were prevented from reaching their homes located in the vicinity of the settlement, and the occupying forces stationed themselves at the entrances to the neighborhoods of the neighborhood, and during that time they prevented residents from being present. and they will walk down the street and force them into their homes. Sniper teams also occupied the rooftops near the settlement’s outpost location, and Israeli occupying forces set up tents in the afternoon.
A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeina, described Pompeo’s visit to the occupied territories as “an active participation in this occupation, which is a condemned and rejected visit.”
The secretary general of the League of Arab States, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, also condemned Pompeo’s visit to Israeli settlements in the West Bank and the Golan Heights. He stressed that “this act clearly contradicts international legitimacy and encourages the right-wing government of Israel to go ahead with its illegal settlement projects, which constitute the greatest obstacle to the establishment of peace based on the two-state solution.”
The newspaper said Trump changed the dynamic, declaring the settlements legal despite international objections and supporting their eventual annexation by Israel. But this week, as President-elect Joe Biden assembles a foreign policy team that will likely include former Obama administration officials who oppose the settlements, a new confrontation has already begun after Israel announced plans to build 1,257 homes in Givat Hamatos, a settlement on the outskirts of Jerusalem. .
The long-awaited project is particularly controversial because it could separate neighboring Palestinian communities and make it more difficult for the eventual division of Jerusalem between Israel and a future Palestinian state.
After a postponement that lasted for most of Trump’s term, Israel announced construction plans a week after its electoral defeat was cleared up. The government gave companies a January 18 deadline to submit construction bids, two days before Biden’s inauguration.
The provocative moment, reminiscent of the 2010 incident in which another settlement-building announcement interrupted a scheduled visit to Israel for then-Vice President Biden, pleased settlers who were willing to take the more aggressive stance toward Washington.
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