Palestinians Snub Pence Visit: He'll be Met with 'Shoes and More'

Suppose you held a party and no one showed up.

That's the dilemma facing Vice President Mike Pence as he travels to the Middle East after President Trump's Jerusalem announcement.

When the president made the historic announcement officially recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moving the U.S. embassy there, he said he'd be sending the vice president to the region later this month to meet with various government leaders and officials.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was the first to say he would not meet with Pence. 

Pence wants to visit The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and meet with Abbas on December 19. 

CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief Chris Mitchell will join Pence during his Mideast trip to bring you special coverage. Check back with CBNNews.com this weekend for the latest.

Fatah Revolutionary Council member Mohammed Lahham made it clear the vice president is unwelcome.

"In the name of Fatah, I say that we will not welcome Trump's deputy in the Palestinian territories…we will receive the US vice president with shoes and more."

Throughout the Middle East, showing or throwing shoes at someone is considered a great insult and demonstration of displeasure and disrespect.

A spokesman for Vice President Pence's office said by refusing to meet with Mr. Pence, P.A. officials are turning their backs on dialogue and the peace process.

Politico reports the vice president still intends to visit Bethlehem and meet with Abbas.

In another snub, Pope Tawadros II of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo cancelled a proposed meeting with Pence scheduled for December 20.

He said he did so because Trump's Jerusalem decision "did not take into account the feelings of millions of Arab people."

Trump's Jerusalem decision was met with widespread criticism around the world, demonstrations in Lebanon, Pakistan and Turkey and riots in the Palestinian territories.

In 1995, the US Congress passed a law known as the Jerusalem Embassy Act, which gave official US recognition to Jerusalem as Israel's capital and required that the U.S. embassy be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Since then, fearing unrest and other security concerns, each US president has signed a waiver putting off the embassy relocation.

Trump decided to change the policy saying, "We cannot solve our problems by making the same failed assumptions and repeating the same failed strategies of the past. All challenges demand new approaches."