The US State Department has confirmed that President Joe Biden’s administration considers the West Bank an “occupied territory” by Israel, following a report by the State Department that refrained from using the term. Addressing the incident, Ambassador Pete Peterson said: “As we have said last year, we have renovated the human rights report to indicate the commonly used geographical titles of the area covered by the report, including Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. This is in line with our practices in general, we also believe that this information is clearer and more useful to readers seeking information on human rights in those specific areas.” Ambassador Peterson further explained that the present report was not intended to convey a stance on the final-status issues to be negotiated between the parties of the conflict, including the boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem and the borders between Israel and any future Palestinian State. For further details, click here