Trump makes personal appeal to both sides for Mideast peace

Ahead of his visit to the Middle East, the second leg of a nine-day tour that began in Saudi Arabia and will move on to the Vatican, Italy and Belgium, administration officials indicated that Mr Trump may talk about “Palestinian self-determination” in his public comments, a nod towards statehood.

“We would like to reiterate our commitment to cooperate with you to make peace and achieve an historic peace agreement between us and the Israelis”, he added, echoing similar pledges from Netanyahu. “And we are keen to keep the door open to dialogue with our Israeli neighbors from all walks of life in order to boost confidence and create a genuine peace opportunity”, the Palestinian president told his American counterpart.

In a live stream of Trump’s remarks with Netanyahu on Monday, the White House listed the meeting’s location as “Jerusalem, Israel”. Many observers, perhaps naively, had expected some sign of increased pressure on Israel to make compromises, but Mr Trump gave no hint of that. Trump said the USA stands in “absolute solidarity” with the people of the United Kingdom and that young, innocent people were murdered by “evil losers”. “If President Trump wants to bring that kind of leadership to the issue, he needs to take steps to demonstrate it”.

Jibril Rajoub, a senior Palestinian official close to Abbas, confirmed Palestinian confidence in Trump, calling him a “serious president” who “seeks to have a real deal, not just managing the conflict”.

Palestinians held protests in the Gaza Strip as well, and one was reportedly shot and injured by Israeli fire across the boundary fence.

On a visit to the Yad Vashem memorial, the president and first lady Melania Trump laid a wreath on a stone slab under which ashes from some of those killed in concentration camps are buried. Trump’s two-day visit came immediately before the Israeli holiday of Jerusalem Day, which this year marks the 50th anniversary of Israel’s reunification of the holy city during the Six-Day War.

One name not being mentioned in Jerusalem was that of the former president, Barack Obama.

Trump and Netanyahu in particular lavished praise on each other during their multiple meetings.

But Trump purposefully declined to take on the issue or to threaten cutting USA aid to the Palestinians until the practice is stopped.

But Trump had no reservations as he placed his note of prayer in between the wall’s many cracks and uploaded a photo of his time there as his Twitter cover photo.

Palestinian activists have also noted that Trump’s rhetoric with regard to Israel and Palestine is no different from previous United States administrations. “So they’re not going to make an issue of it”, he said.

The announcement of Trump’s initial $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia sent the stocks of weapons makers soaring. “This visit underscores the unwavering strength of the US-Israel relationship and the Jewish state’s vital importance as America’s strategic partner in a volatile region”, AIPAC said.