Pence heads to Mideast amid Israel embassy storm
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US Vice President Mike Pence set off for the Middle East on Friday for a trip overshadowed by controversy over plans to move the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
Pence had been due to travel in December last year, but Arab anger over President Donald Trump’s decision to declare Jerusalem Israel’s capital saw many planned meetings cancelled.
The protests that erupted at the time have subsided, but Pence may still face a cold welcome in some capitals and concern over the fate of the UN aid agency for Palestinians (UNRWA).
Washington has delayed a $65 million funding package for the cash-strapped body, putting at risk operations to feed, teach, and heal thousands of Palestinian refugees.
The Palestinian leadership, already furious over the Jerusalem decision, has denounced the US administration and had already refused to meet Pence during his planned December trip.
But Pence’s press secretary, Alyssa Farah, said the vice president would still meet the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, and Israel on the high-stakes four-day tour.
Pence will arrive in Cairo on Saturday for a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, heading the following day to Amman for a one-on-one with King Abdullah II.
Both these leaders, whose countries have peace deals and diplomatic ties with Israel, would be key players if US mediators ever manage to get a revived Israeli-Palestinian peace process off the ground, as Trump wants.
They are also key intelligence-sharing and security partners in America’s various covert and overt battles against Islamist extremism in the region, and Egypt is a major recipient of aid to help it buy advanced US military hardware.
On Monday, Pence will begin a two-day visit to Israel, where he will meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin and deliver a speech to the Knesset.
He can expect a warm welcome from local politicians after Trump’s decision on Jerusalem, which Israelis and Palestinians alike interpreted as Washington taking Israel’s side in the dispute over the city.
The State Department has begun to plan the sensitive move of the US embassy to the city, a process that US diplomats say may take years to complete — unless they adopt an interim solution and re-badge an existing American property in the city.
This week reports surfaced that Washington may temporarily designate the US consulate general in Jerusalem as the embassy while the search for a secure and practical site for a long-term mission continues.
This could prove just as controversial as building a new embassy, however, as the building currently serves as the US mission to the Palestinian territories in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Read More: Times of Israel