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US Vice President to visit Middle East this weekend

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US Vice President Mike Pence will arrive in the Middle East this weekend for a three-day visit to Egypt, Jordan and Israel.

The visit was originally scheduled in December, but postponed due to the congressional vote on US President Donald Trump’s tax reform.

Vice President Pence’s first stop is in Egypt where he will meet Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi. He will then travel to Jordan for talks with Jordanian King Abdullah II in Amman. He is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Sunday night and stay for two days in Jerusalem.

In Israel, the Vice President will meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin, deliver a speech at the Knesset and visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial.

The Vice President’s speech to the Israeli Parliament is particularly significant as, according to protocol, it is usually an invitation only granted to heads of state or Parliamentary speakers. The Speaker of the Knesset, Yuli Edelstein, described Pence’s upcoming Knesset speech as “no less than a historic event that comes at a very significant time for Israel and the Middle East”.

Pence is also expected to visit the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Tuesday. He will not be accompanied at the holy site by an Israeli official, but the Vice President and his wife, Karen, will be greeted by Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is boycotting the Vice President’s visit, as part of their response to President Trump’s Jerusalem announcement in December; as a result, no PA leaders will be meeting him.

US network CBS News has suggested the US visit poses a dilemma for its Arab allies, Egypt’s President and Jordan’s King, on “how to safeguard their vital ties with Washington without appearing to ignore Palestinian misgivings”. The report notes that “both countries are heavily dependent on US military and economic aid, and talks with a senior Trump administration figure like Pence offer them an opportunity to strengthen those ties”.