Pompeo in Israel to talk West Bank annexation
VISIT COMES A DAY BEFORE NEW COALITION TAKES OFFICE; OCCUPATION REGIME SHOOTS DEAD PALESTINIAN TEEN
Amid a new outbreak of violence in the West Bank, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his new governing partner in occupied Jerusalem yesterday for talks that were expected to address Israel’s plans to annex parts of the territory.
Pompeo landed in Tel Aviv early in the morning, donning a red, white and blue face mask, and proceeded directly to occupied Jerusalem, receiving an exemption from Israel’s mandatory two-week quarantine for arrivals due to the coronavirus outbreak. His visit is the first to Israel by any foreign official since January, before the country largely shut its borders to halt the spread of the pandemic.
Standing alongside Pompeo in front of a row of American and Israeli flags, Netanyahu called the six-hour visit a “testament to the strength of our alliance.”
Netanyahu and his new coalition partner, Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz, postponed the swearing-in of their government until today to accommodate Pompeo’s visit. Pompeo also met with Gantz and with his fellow retired military chief Gabi Ashkenazi, the new regime’s incoming foreign minister.
The visit comes amid an uptick in West Bank violence.
The Palestinian health ministry said a 15-year-old was killed in confrontations with Israeli regime forces early yesterday in the southern West Bank.
The teenager was hit in the head by a live round and four others were also wounded by live fire, the ministry said. The incident comes a day after an Israeli occupation soldier was killed during a West Bank arrest raid when a rock thrown off a rooftop struck him in the head — the first military casualty in 2020.
Colony building
The occuaption military has embarked on a massive manhunt for the killer and said it has arrested 10 suspects so far.
Pompeo expressed his condolence on the death of the soldier and reiterated that “Israel has the right to defend itself and America will consistently support you in that effort.”
Israel has built colonies in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem that now house nearly 700,000 Israelis. Most of the international community considers these colonies a violation of international law and obstacles to peace.
In November, Pompeo stated that the administration no longer believed that Israel’s West Bank colonies were inconsistent with international law.