Pompeo visits West Bank settlement

Mike Pompeopaid the first visit by a U.S. Secretary of State to an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, in a parting show of solidarity with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by the outgoing Trump administration.

Context

• Mike Pompeopaid the first visit by a U.S. Secretary of State to an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, in a parting show of solidarity with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by the outgoing Trump administration.
  
  

Where the West Bank is situated?

• The West Bankis a landlocked territory near the Mediterranean coast of Western Asia, bordered by Jordan to the east and by Israel to the south, west and north.
• Until 1967 when it was occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War.

What ICJ had to say?

• The International Court of Justice advisory ruling in 2004 concluded that events that came after the 1967 occupation of the West Bank by Israel, including the Jerusalem Law, Israel's peace treaty with Jordan and the Oslo Accords, did not change the status of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) as occupied territory with Israel as the occupying power.

Where is the Gaza Strip?

• The Gaza Stripis a self-governing Palestinian territoryin the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, that borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the east. 

What are Golan Heights?

• It is also called Golan Plateau.
• It is hilly area overlooking the upper Jordan Rivervalley on the west. The area was part of extreme southwestern Syria until 1967, when it came under Israeli military occupation, and in December 1981 Israel unilaterally annexed the part of the Golan it held.
• Israel is the suzerain of almost all of the Golan except for a narrow strip in the east that follows the Israeli-Syrian armistice line of June 10, 1967.