US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's trip to an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights has reignited speculation that the top American diplomat is seeking Israeli support for his political future. CNN reported on Friday that Pompeo's visit to an illegal Israeli settlement and the occupied Golan Heights is seen as auditioning for 2024.
Pompeo, in a press conference, reiterated Washington's support for Israel’s illegal settlement in the occupied West Bank, breaking with international consensus against Israeli activity in the region.
In the press conference, Pompeo voiced his ambitions to help Israeli businesses in the West Bank avoid international sanctions.
Pompeo announced that the US would brand the international Palestinian-led boycott movement against Israeli products as “anti-Semitic”.
His announcement that products from the settlements can be labeled “Made in Israel” was assessed as a major US foreign policy shift.
The top diplomat's move labelled as the "Pompeo Doctrine" was seen more as a self-promoting stunt rather than a pursuit of the best interests of the US Pompeo's visits "have nothing to do with America's ambitions but his own in 2024," Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, tweeted.
He "is making a 2024 play," said a source close to the secretary.
Meanwhile, Pompeo’s visit stirred strong negative emotions among various Palestinian factions.
The Arab League issued a statement saying his trip to the occupied West Bank and the Golan Heights was against the norms of international law.
Experts believe the outgoing Trump administration has broken with decades of bipartisan US practice by not opposing the illegal Israeli settlements.However, the presumptive president-elect Joe Biden has said when his administration takes over power it will restore US opposition to the settlements which are considered illegal under international law