Many Palestinians were already irked that Trump spent only about an hour with their leader over the course of his two-day trip to Israel and the West Bank.
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While past United States presidents have set out broad principles both sides must meet in order to reach a peace deal, Trump has resisted laying out any clear guidelines, instead promising to act as a mediator and urging both sides to take steps toward peace. He’s speaking alongside Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (mahk-MOOD’ ah-BAHS’) in Bethlehem.
Trump initially sparked deep concern among Palestinians when he backed away from the long-established U.S. commitment to a two-state solution to the conflict.
“Making peace however will not be easy”, Mr Trump told an audience of Israeli politicians and other dignitaries at the Israel Museum.
He says “that would be an fantastic accomplishment”.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday in a speech here capping off his visit to Israel and the West Bank that he believes both Israelis and Palestinian leaders “are ready to reach for peace”.
“I know you’ve heard it before”, he said.
President Trump stressed the deep and longstanding ties between the USA and Israel during a speech in Jerusalem Tuesday morning.
Abbas stressed that the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is not between religions.
Trump is squandering that opportunity – which is why his braggadocio about resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should be taken with a Dead Sea’s worth of salt. Police raised the death toll to 22 early Tuesday, and dozens more have been reported injured. And in today’s attack it was mostly innocent children.
“This wicked ideology must be obliterated, and I mean completely obliterated”, he added. In this land so rich in history, Israel has built one of the world’s great civilizations, a strong, resilient, determined and prosperous nation.
President Donald Trump has arrived in Bethlehem for a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (mahk-MOOD’ ah-BAHS’).
He said his visit was aimed at reaffirming “the unshakeable bond between the United States and Israel” and to push forward his effort to revive the long-stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
But Trump, on his second stop of a three-country tour highlighting the world’s three largest monotheistic religions, is continuing to ramp up expectations, expressing optimism that a peace deal can finally be brokered to end the almost 70-year-old conflict and even suggesting a resolution may not be so hard to obtain after all.
Trump is scheduled to pay a brief visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, where he will lay a wreath, before heading to the nearby Israel Museum to give a major speech.
Trump arrived at the Presidential palace in Bethlehem in the morning after travelling there by auto from Jerusalem.
The ancient stones are in a part of Jerusalem that Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.
It is a stark symbol for Palestinians of Israel´s 50-year occupation of the West Bank, and in Bethlehem the wall has been covered by graffiti and street art.
Bethlehem is ringed by the barrier on three sides.
Trump was set to leave later Tuesday afternoon on his way to the Vatican. Trump is expected to make remarks during the meeting on the deadly explosion at a concert in Manchester, England.
“In my meeting with Benjamin I can tell you he wants peace, he is reaching for peace”, he adds.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Twitter that Trump’s national security team was “providing updates” to the president on the situation.
In Jerusalem, Trump focused on Iran, pledging he would never let Tehran acquire nuclear arms.
“Palestinians are ready to reach for peace”.
Trump has threatened to try to renegotiate the deal, which saw Iran accept curbs on its contested nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some worldwide economic sanctions. He unexpectedly offered a new defense of his disclosure of classified information to Russian diplomats.
“Never mentioned during the conversation”, he said, as Netanyahu smiled in consternation. When Israeli intelligence services share highly classified information with its closest ally, they do so with the expectation that USA officials will treat the intelligence appropriately – which does not include passing it along to a third country, especially Russian Federation, given Israel’s and Russia’s divergent interests in Syria, due to Assad’s backing of Hezbollah and Russia’s backing of Assad.
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Hazan, who sued a journalist for a televised report accusing him of involvement in pimping and drugs prior to his political career, whipped out his cellphone and suggested a selfie to Trump.
