Jerusalem row: Palestinian protesters set fire to placards of US vice president Mike Pence in Bethlehem

The US vice president is due in the region later this week but the Palestinians have said he is not welcome and President Mahmoud Abbas will not meet him during his visit, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki said last week, a move the White House described as "unfortunate".

By: Reuters | Bethelehem (west Bank) | Published: December 18, 2017 1:38 am

Palestinian protesters set fire to placards of US vice president Mike Pence in Bethlehem

Lebanese and Palestinians students, burn a poster of U.S. President Donald Trump as they take part in a protest, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon. (Photo: AP)

A small group of Palestinian protesters on Sunday set fire to placards printed with images of US Vice President Mike Pence and Middle East negotiator Jason Greenblatt outside Jesus’s traditional birthplace, days before their arrival in the region. With Bethlehem’s illuminated Christmas tree behind them, about 30 people stood quietly holding candles at Manger Square next to the Church of the Nativity, the site Christians believe marks Jesus’s birthplace, before setting the placards alight.