Pence, on Israel visit, meets Netanyahu

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for talks on Monday, the second day of a visit to Israel that has been boycotted by the Palestinians.

The two men made no comment as Netanyahu welcomed Pence to his office in Jerusalem, where the U.S. vice president reviewed an Israeli honor guard.

It is the highest-level U.S. visit to the region since President Donald Trump on Dec. 6 recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and promised to begin the process of moving the American embassy to the city, whose status is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Outraged at Trump’s Jerusalem declaration, a move that reversed decades of U.S. policy on the city’s status, the Palestinians are snubbing Pence. President Mahmoud Abbas left for an overseas visit before the vice president’s arrival.

Nor is Pence, an evangelical Christian who has been vocal on the subject of protecting Christians in the Middle East, scheduled to make any private trips to Palestinian areas such as Bethlehem, a city whose Christian significance usually draws Western dignitaries.

U.S. officials have said an embassy move from Tel Aviv could take up to three years. But there has been speculation that Pence could announce a stop-gap arrangement, such as the conversion of one of the U.S. consulate buildings in Jerusalem to a de facto embassy.

The two men made no comment as Netanyahu welcomed Pence to his office in Jerusalem, where the U.S. vice president reviewed an Israeli honor guard.

It is the highest-level U.S. visit to the region since President Donald Trump on Dec. 6 recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and promised to begin the process of moving the American embassy to the city, whose status is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Outraged at Trump’s Jerusalem declaration, a move that reversed decades of U.S. policy on the city’s status, the Palestinians are snubbing Pence. President Mahmoud Abbas left for an overseas visit before the vice president’s arrival.

Nor is Pence, an evangelical Christian who has been vocal on the subject of protecting Christians in the Middle East, scheduled to make any private trips to Palestinian areas such as Bethlehem, a city whose Christian significance usually draws Western dignitaries.

U.S. officials have said an embassy move from Tel Aviv could take up to three years. But there has been speculation that Pence could announce a stop-gap arrangement, such as the conversion of one of the U.S. consulate buildings in Jerusalem to a de facto embassy.