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Pompeo at Western Wall With Netanyahu Likely to Stir Arab Anger

Pompeo at Western Wall With Netanyahu Likely to Stir Arab Anger

(Bloomberg) -- Mike Pompeo became the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Jerusalem’s Western Wall in the company of an Israeli prime minister, a move that could anger Palestinians who accuse the Trump administration of bias in its approach to contested areas.

Until now, top-ranking U.S. officials spent time at the wall unaccompanied by Israeli officials, to avoid appearing to recognize Israel’s rule over the area.

Pompeo at Western Wall With Netanyahu Likely to Stir Arab Anger

“I think it’s symbolic that a senior American official go there with the prime minister of Israel. It’s a place that’s important for many faiths,” Pompeo said Thursday at a press briefing in Jerusalem before the visit.

Jews venerate the area as the site of their biblical temples. The Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, is located at the foot of the complex. Muslims believe their Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven from the site, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex, which includes the silver-capped mosque and gold-capped Dome of the Rock, is Islam’s third-holiest site.

The break with established protocol is especially timely for Netanyahu, who is keen to burnish his credentials as a statesman ahead of elections in three weeks. Next week, he’s scheduled to meet President Donald Trump in Washington and attend the annual meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Trump decided at the end of 2017 to transfer the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and made the move the following May. That infuriated the Palestinian leadership, which wants the east of the city as the capital of a future state.

Asked about a State Department report which dropped the previous use of the word “occupied” in reference to the Golan Heights, West Bank, and Gaza, Pompeo said the change in language was intentional.

“It wasn’t a mistake; it wasn’t an error. It was done knowingly. We believe it’s the most factual description that was appropriate for the report,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alisa Odenheimer in Jerusalem at aodenheimer@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shaji Mathew at shajimathew@bloomberg.net, Mark Williams, Lin Noueihed

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