US President Donald Trump yesterday made the short trip from Jerusalem to Bethlehem in the Palestinian Territories to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
“I am committed to trying to achieve a peace agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and I intend to do everything I can to help them achieve that goal,” Trump said after holding talks with the Palestinian president in Bethlehem.
His talks in Bethlehem came after Trump on Monday made a heavily symbolic visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem and met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Photo: Reuters
Later yesterday, Trump returned to Jerusalem to visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum with Netanyahu and give a speech at the Israel Museum before wrapping up his two-day stop.
Trump’s visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories is part of his first trip abroad as president, and follows an initial leg in Saudi Arabia, where he urged Muslim leaders to confront extremism.
VAGUE
He has spoken of reviving long-stalled peace efforts between the Israelis and Palestinians, but few specifics have emerged of how he intends to do so.
Before dinner at Netanyahu’s residence on Monday, Trump avoided delving into details.
“I’ve heard it’s one of the toughest deals of all, but I have a feeling that we’re going to get there eventually, I hope,” he said.
Earlier Monday, Trump also lashed out at Iran, Israel’s arch-enemy, saying it should never be allowed to have nuclear weapons and criticizing Tehran for supporting “terrorists” — a reference to militant groups it backs in the region.
Iran should have thanked the US for the 2015 nuclear accord between Tehran and world powers because it led to sanctions being lifted, he said.
“Instead of saying thank you to the United States, they now feel emboldened,” Trump said.
In Tehran on Monday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani ridiculed US strategy in the Middle East, dismissing Trump’s summit with Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia as “just a show.”
Security was tight for Trump’s journey to Bethlehem, a 20-minute drive from Jerusalem, but located across Israel’s controversial separation wall.
The wall is part of a project begun in 2002 during the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, that is to extend about 700km once completed.
STARK SYMBOL
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 with graffiti and street art.
Trump met Abbas at the presidential palace in Bethlehem, a town that holds deep significance as the site where Christians believe Jesus was born.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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