Syria, Aboul Gheit Slam Pompeo's Visit to Occupied Golan Heights


US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listens as Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi speaks after a security briefing on Mount Bental in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights November 19, 2020. Patrick Semansky/Pool via REUTERS
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listens as Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi speaks after a security briefing on Mount Bental in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights November 19, 2020. Patrick Semansky/Pool via REUTERS
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Syria, Aboul Gheit Slam Pompeo's Visit to Occupied Golan Heights


US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listens as Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi speaks after a security briefing on Mount Bental in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights November 19, 2020. Patrick Semansky/Pool via REUTERS
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listens as Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi speaks after a security briefing on Mount Bental in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights November 19, 2020. Patrick Semansky/Pool via REUTERS

Syria condemned US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to the “occupied” Golan Heights on Thursday and described it as a provocative act.

Pompeo became the first US secretary of state to visit an Israeli West Bank settlement and the Golan Heights.

Syria called on the international community and the UN to condemn the “provocative” visit, which it said violated international resolutions, a government source was quoted on state media as saying, Reuters reported.

“The visit is a provocative move before the end of Trump’s administration and a flagrant violation of our sovereignty,” the statement said.

For his part, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit also condemned Pompeo's unprecedented visit.

"This action is a flagrant violation of international legitimacy and encourages the right-wing Israeli government to continue its illegal settlement construction, deemed the greatest obstacle to peace based on the two-state solution," he was quoted as saying in a statement.

He also stressed that Pompeo’s trip would not change the internationally recognized status of the Palestinian lands.

Remarkably, the Trump administration recognized Israel’s claim to sovereignty over the Golan Heights in 2019.



US Mideast Envoy: Trump's Gaza Plan is About Better Prospects, Not Eviction

MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 20: Steven Charles Witkoff, Middle East Envoy, Government of the United States, speaks during the second day of the FII PRIORITY Summit held at the Faena Hotel on February 20, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP
MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 20: Steven Charles Witkoff, Middle East Envoy, Government of the United States, speaks during the second day of the FII PRIORITY Summit held at the Faena Hotel on February 20, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP
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US Mideast Envoy: Trump's Gaza Plan is About Better Prospects, Not Eviction

MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 20: Steven Charles Witkoff, Middle East Envoy, Government of the United States, speaks during the second day of the FII PRIORITY Summit held at the Faena Hotel on February 20, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP
MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 20: Steven Charles Witkoff, Middle East Envoy, Government of the United States, speaks during the second day of the FII PRIORITY Summit held at the Faena Hotel on February 20, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida. Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP

The United States' envoy to the Middle East said on Thursday that President Donald Trump's plan for Gaza was not about evicting Palestinians, and the conversation about Gaza's future was being shifted towards how to create a better future for Palestinians.
Trump proposed on February 4 the US should take over Gaza, with Palestinians resettled in other places including Egypt and Jordan, a suggestion which caused an international outcry.
However, speaking at a Miami conference hosted by a non-profit, US envoy Steven Witkoff said that Trump's comments on Gaza were more about trying different solutions to those proposed over the previous 50 years, Reuters reported.
He said that the war between Israel and Hamas has left much of Gaza destroyed and littered with unexploded ordnance, and it was impossible to see how people could return.
"It's going to take a lot of clean-up and imagination, and a great master plan, and that doesn't mean we're on an eviction plan, when the President talks about this," Steven Witkoff told the FII Institute event.
"It means he wants to shake up everyone's thinking, and think about what is compelling and what is the best solution for the Palestinian people.
"For instance, do they want to live in a home there, or would they rather have an opportunity to resettle in some sort of better place, to have jobs, upside and financial prospects," he added.