US vice president's visit to Israel postponed again
A planned visit to Israel by US Vice President Mike Pence has been indefinitely postponed, according to Israeli officials.
The trip which had been expected to take place in mid January is not on the Israeli foreign ministry's schedule, according to The Times of Israel.
"The visit is not included in our provision of scheduled visits of high-level dignitaries in January," ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said.
No new date has yet been set for the vice president’s visit.
Pence originally postponed a planned mid-December trip to Israel so he could preside over the Senate vote on the Republican tax plan.
But the delay also followed region-wide protests over President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem al-Quds as the “capital” of Israel.
At the time, Palestinian authorities canceled a planned meeting with the US vice president to protest Trump’s declaration.
A White House official said back then that Pence would visit the occupied territories in mid-January instead.
The entire Jerusalem al-Quds is currently under Israel’s control, while the regime also claims the city’s eastern part, which hosts the third holiest Muslim site.
The city has been designated as “occupied” under international law since the 1967 Arab War. It remains at the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with Palestinians hoping that the eastern part of the city would eventually serve as the capital of their future state.
Palestinians have repeatedly warned Trump against recognizing al-Quds as Israel's capital, saying it would deliver a death blow to any prospects of the resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and fuel extremism in the region.
Pence’s original schedule also included a stop in Egypt. The head of Egypt's Coptic Church, Pope Tawadros II, also called off a planned meeting with Pence.
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