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US State Department Reiterates: West Bank Is Occupied Territory

On Tuesday, the Biden administration published the 2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, an annual human rights report. The report preserved the terminology used by the Trump administration, which replaced Obama’s “Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories,” with “Israel, West Bank and Gaza.” The Golan Heights also appeared without being classified as “occupied.”

The terms used prompted a question from reporters on Wednesday, and US State Department spokesman Ned Price clarified that “it is a historical fact that Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza, and the Golan Heights after the 1967 war.” He also said that “the report does use the term ‘occupation’ in the context of the current status of the West Bank,” in accordance with the stance of previous administrations.