The Palestinian Authority (PA) has slammed the US State Department for removing it from its online list of countries, saying the move constitutes yet more evidence of the US’ alignment with the Israeli right-wing.

Previously the State Department website featured the “Palestinian Territories” under its “Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs: Countries & Areas” web page, where it offered information about the occupied West Bank and besieged Gaza Strip.

The US State Department recently removed Palestine from the official list of countries on its website. This move "comes in the context of desperate attempts to wipe out the Palestinian cause and people." https://t.co/wNUYthRvdY pic.twitter.com/CoNz6Qr8WU

— The IMEU (@theIMEU) August 26, 2019

However, the newly-updated webpage now makes no mention of the occupied territories or to Palestine, referring to Palestinians only once on the “Israel” subpage.

Asked about the change during a press conference at the G7 meeting in France yesterday, US President Donald Trump said “you can ask Mike Pompeo”, referring to the US Secretary of State.

*The US State Department changed its usual description of the Golan Heights from “Israeli-occupied” to “Israeli-controlled” in an annual global human rights report released on Wednesday.*#Palestinian_Eve#Palestine pic.twitter.com/ozHFTvkDzS

— Palestinian Eve (@PalestinianEve1) March 14, 2019

The State Department yesterday issued a statement stressing that the move did not constitute a change in US policy, saying only that the website “is being updated”. Pompeo does not seem to have responded to the change.

(Middle East Monitor, PC, Social Media)