Pence’s Middle East trip unlikely to subdue rising rage over US policy

WASHINGTON: US vicepresident Mike Pence will begin a trip Friday to the Middle East including stops in Egypt, Jordan and Israel, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.

The upcoming tour, however, is likely to be bumpy and will do little to mollify the rising rage in the region over America’s Palestinian policy, said experts.

The White House earlier on Monday said the five- day trip will enable Pence to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al- Sisi, King Abdullah II of Jordan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, concentrating on key topics like combating terrorism and improving US national security.

The visit was postponed last month after President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and announced that the country’s embassy would move there.

There is still roaring anger across the region over Trump’s announcement.

During his tour, Pence will not visit the West Bank or meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who ordered Trump’s decision be brought to the UN Security Council for a vote last year, and cancelled the meeting with Pence in protest over Trump’s Palestine policy.

Earlier, the Israeli parliament approved the ‘unified Jerusalem’ bill aiming to separate Palestinian neighbourhoods from Jerusalem.

The new legislation stipulates that any of the government’s decision to hand over parts of Jerusalem to the Palestinian authority in the future needs the approval of 80 out of 120 parliament members.

It is widely seen as a further blow to the Jerusalem status talks. — Bernama