Pompeo expected to hand Israeli settlers goodbye gift with trip to winery

Trip would be first official visit by US secretary of state to settlement in occupied territories

Mike Pompeo is expected to tour an Israeli winery this week built on land Palestinian families say was stolen from them, a deeply provocative act that would make him the first US secretary of state to officially visit a settlement in the occupied territories.

The top diplomat's visit has been widely reported by Israeli media but not confirmed by Washington. If it went ahead, it would be a parting gift to Israel's nationalist government and the settler movement, as the Trump administration scrambles in its final weeks to impose a vision for the Middle East that has deeply favoured Israel's far right.