Rashida Tlaib plans West Bank tour with US Congress delegation

Democrat Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian-American woman voted into Congress, is planning to take a delegation of US politicians to the West Bank as a counter to pro-Israeli lobby group tours.

“I want us to see that segregation and how that has really harmed us being able to achieve real peace in that region,” Ms Tlaib told The Intercept news website.

“I don’t think the American Israel Public Affairs Committee provides a real, fair lens into this issue.

“It’s one-sided. They have these lavish trips to Israel but they don’t show the side that I know is real, which is what’s happening to my grandmother and what’s happening to my family there.”

She said she planned to take the delegation to Beit Ur Al Foqa, the village that is home to her grandmother.

Ms Tlaib, who represents Michigan, also came out in support of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, a global campaign that advocates for economic sanctions against Israel for its occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

They are territories that the Palestinians seek for any future state.

“I personally support the BDS movement,” Ms Tlaib said.

She said that such boycotts helped to shed light on “issues such as the racism and the international human rights violations by Israel right now”.

US Vice President Mike Pence recently sided with Israel in the row over home rental site Airbnb’s decision to delist properties in illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Mr Pence said such boycotts, as declared by the US company, had no place in the US market.