Mike Pompeo in Israel despite the pandemic to discuss "annexation" and Iran

US Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo arrived in Israel on Wednesday May 13 to discuss plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank to the new Israeli government. It was his first trip abroad in almost two months.

In addition to this sensitive issue, Mike Pompeo must discuss Iran, the number one enemy of the Hebrew state, suspected of having multiplied the strikes against Iranian positions in neighboring Syria in recent weeks.

The Secretary of State landed in the morning at Ben-Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv and got out of the aircraft wearing a blue, white and red health mask, the colors of the American flag, before taking the Road to Jerusalem, where he is to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former electoral rival Benny Gantz.

Glad to be in Israel to coordinate with @IsraeliPM @Netanyahu and @Gantzbe on countering two critical threats: COVID-19 and Iran. Israel and the United States will take on these challenges side-by-side. pic.twitter.com/aSrzD8MhkS

In a "preventive" manner, Mike Pompeo will however not be able to meet his ambassador David Friedman on Wednesday because the latter is experiencing "respiratory symptoms", although he was tested negative for Covid-19, a source said. embassy spokesperson.

What future for the American peace plan?

After 17 months of a political saga punctuated by twists and turns and three elections, the unity government of Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz is to be sworn in on Thursday before the Knesset (Parliament) in Jerusalem.

Their power-sharing agreement provides for the unveiling from July 1 of a strategy to implement the American project, presented in January in Washington by US President Donald Trump with the aim of unblocking the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The plan is to make Jerusalem the "indivisible" capital of the "Jewish state" of Israel and the annexation of the Jordan Valley and the more than 130 Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The plan also provides for the creation of a Palestinian state on a reduced territory.

The question of the future of this plan rejected in unison by the Palestinians is however raised. "The decision will be made by Israel and I want to know what the new government thinks about it," said Mike Pompeo in an interview with the daily Israel Hayom published on Tuesday.

>> Read: Washington no longer judges Israeli settlements "contrary to international law"

"The United States is a stakeholder in this plan," retorted Palestinian chief negotiator Saëb Erakat, who told AFP that Washington had not contacted them to prepare for the visit.

"In our various exchanges, international leaders have made it clear to us that annexation poses a threat not only to peace in the Middle East but to the entire international system," he added.

Over 450,000 residents in Israeli settlements in the West Bank

Over the past decade, under the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu, the population in Israeli settlements in the West Bank has jumped 50% to more than 450,000, often living under stress with more than 2.7 million Palestinians.

On the eve of the arrival of the United States Secretary of State, an Israeli soldier was killed by the stone throwing of a Palestinian on the sidelines of an armed operation in a village in the north of the West Bank, territory occupied since 1967 by Israel. On Wednesday morning, a Palestinian teenager was killed by the Israeli army in clashes in the southern West Bank, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

If Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to apply Israel's "sovereignty" over the settlements and the Jordan Valley, a strip of land that spans almost 30% of the West Bank, he now has a strategic window of about four months, between July 1 and the American presidential election in November.

When Mike Pompeo assures that any decision would be solely Israeli, his comments are "fallacious" because "the Trump administration really wants the annexation to materialize," insists Daniel Shapiro, former US ambassador to Israel under Barack Obama.

Domestic policy issue for Donald Trump

The issue of the settlements is also a question of domestic policy in the United States, where evangelical movements, supporters of the Republicans of Donald Trump, are staunchly defending the project of a "Greater Israel" including within its borders territories in the West Bank.

"The Trump administration is probably little concerned with the precise boundaries, but is seeking an accomplishment (...) to present to Donald Trump's evangelical base and to right-wing Jewish voters, in order to galvanize them for the election of November ", assures AFP Daniel Shapiro.

Polls in Israel suggest high support for annexation among right, but not center and left, tendencies represented in the unity government, including by Benny Gantz, who expressed doubts on a quick annexation.

In this context, Israeli analysts expect limited measures from the union government, such as the attachment of settlements near Jerusalem to Israel, unless, according to Daniel Shapiro, he passes by to wait for the name of the next tenant at the White House.

With AFP

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