Pompeo in Israel amid new bloodshed

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Israel yesterday for talks with leaders on plans to annex swathes of the occupied West Bank, which has been rocked by two days of deadly violence.

Pompeo and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meeting in Jerusalem, also voiced fresh condemnation of their common foe Iran, accusing the Islamic republic of promoting terrorism during the coronavirus pandemic.

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

The visit by US President Donald Trump's top diplomat comes a day before Netanyahu's unity government with rival-turned ally Benny Gantz was to be sworn in, ending a year of political paralysis.

It also coincided with an upsurge in violence in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli troops shot dead a 15-year-old Palestinian in a refugee camp near the flashpoint city of Hebron yesterday, a day after a Palestinian stone-thrower killed an Israeli soldier during an arrest operation near Jenin, the army's first fatality of the year.

He also met Gantz, the incoming defence minister, to discuss Trump's controversial Middle East peace plan, which gives a green light for Israel to annex Jewish settlements and strategic areas of the West Bank.

Netanyahu and Gantz are set to launch their government today, having faced off in three inconclusive elections in less than a year before agreeing to a three-year power-sharing administration.

Netanyahu, a right-winger in office since 2009, will serve as premier for 18 months with Gantz as his alternate. The two will swap posts midway through the deal.

Their coalition agreement says the government can from July 1 begin considering to implement Trump's plan.

The Palestinians have rejected Trump's proposals and cut ties with his administration in 2017 over its pro-Israel stance.

Israel has controlled the West Bank since seizing it in the Six-Day War of 1967. Nearly three million Palestinians live in the territory alongside more than 400,000 Israelis residing in settlements that are considered illegal under international law.

For the Palestinians and much of the international community, Israeli annexations would sink any hope of a two-state solution to the conflict.