DM Monitoring
RAMALLAH: Dozens of Palestinians demonstrated on Wednesday against the upcoming visit of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. During the demonstration in the West Bank city of al-Bireh near Ramallah, participants waved Palestinian flags and held banners in English and Arabic that condemned the visit.
Some of the demonstrators are Palestinians who hold American citizenship.
In a statement, the American Palestinians who joined the protest said they have official documents that prove their ownership of the lands on which the settlement was built.
The Palestinians raised flags on the top of the houses opposite the Israeli settlement of Psagot that Pompeo is about to visit. According to Israeli media, Pompeo will visit a winery in Psagot.
“Pompeo’s visit is not a surprise to the Palestinians since all U.S. governments were biased toward the Israeli occupation,” Mahmoud al-Aloul, deputy chief of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party, told reporters.
Abdulla Abu Rahma, coordinator for the Popular Committee Against the Wall and settlements, called on the international community to stop U.S. moves against the Palestinian people, end the Israeli occupation, and help Palestinians establish an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital.
According to Israeli media, Pompeo would be the first U.S. State Secretary to visit an Israeli settlement in the West Bank and the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights during his current trip in Israel.
