Next week, Mike Pompeo will become the first US secretary of state to visit one of the illegal Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian territory.
Pompeo will visit the Psagot winery in the West Bank and also be the first secretary of state to travel to the Golan Heights, whose annexation by Israel was recognized by President Donald Trump, Israeli newspaper Haaretz and news site Axios reported.
Secretary of State Pompeo plans historic visit to West Bank settlement https://t.co/4HILxr7bKz pic.twitter.com/KvyNWem2uY
— New York Post (@nypost) November 13, 2020
The visit comes exactly one year after Pompeo said that the United States did not consider Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian territory to be illegal, putting Washington at odds with UN Security Council resolutions and virtually all other countries except Israel.
The Psagot winery was at the center of a dispute as it unsuccessfully challenged a European decision to put a label on all products that come from settlements on occupied land.
Axios and Haaretz pointed out that Psagot later rolled out a wine label named after Pompeo in tribute to his stance.
Between 500,000 and 600,000 Israelis live in Jewish-only settlements across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Under international law, Jewish settlements constructed in the Occupied Palestinian Territories constitute a violation of international law and are considered illegal.
(Palestine Chronicle, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, Social Media)
