US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo becomes the first US top diplomat to visit a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, where a vineyard has named one of its wines after him.
Pompeo arrives at the Psagot winery, near the settlement of Psagot, according to a State Department official.
On the way there, he made a stop at Qasr el Yahud, revered as the site of the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan Valley, according to the same official.
Israeli winemaker Yaakov Berg holds a bottle of his red blend named after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the Psagot Winery in the settlers industrial park of Sha’ar Binyamin (Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP)
Dozens of Palestinians demonstrate near the winery, and some throw stones at soldiers guarding the entrance to the settlers’ industrial zone.
Pompeo said a year ago that the United States no longer considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be contrary to international law.
He is set to visit the Golan Heights later today. The Trump administration recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan in 2019.
— withAFP
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