US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights this Thursday. The visit, which is considered controversial, is a break with the policies of previous US governments.
Israel captured the territory from Syria in the 1967 war. “Today I have the opportunity to visit the Golan Heights,” Pompeo said in Jerusalem.
The recognition of the Golan Heights as part of Israel is a decision that President Trump made last year, the minister emphasized. He called that decision historically significant and “simply a recognition of reality.”
Trump also recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Two years ago, the Americans moved their embassy from Tel Aviv to what they saw as undivided Jerusalem, much to the anger of the Palestinians who regard the eastern part of the city as their capital.
Trump also allows further Israeli colonization of occupied Palestinian territory in the West Bank.