Trump Vows to Do All to Reach Mideast Peace while Meeting Abbas

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U.S. President Donald Trump vowed Tuesday to do "everything I can" to achieve a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians as he met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the occupied West Bank.

"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 in comments after holding talks with Abbas in Bethlehem.

Trump is currently visiting Israel and the Palestinian territories as part of his first foreign trip since taking office. He held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.

Trump made a highly symbolic visit Monday to the Western Wall in Jerusalem where he met Netanyahu.

On Tuesday, he arrived in Bethlehem by motorcade, crossing a checkpoint at Israel's controversial separation wall, and was greeted by Abbas and other dignitaries outside the city's presidential palace.

Abbas reiterated his call for a two-state solution to the conflict, including an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital.

"We are ready to open dialogue with our Israeli neighbors to build confidence and create a real opportunity for peace," he said.

- Separation wall -

Security was tight for Trump's journey to Bethlehem, a 20-minute drive from Jerusalem but located across Israel's separation wall.

The wall is part of a project begun in 2002 during the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, that is to extend some 700 kilometers (450 miles) once completed.

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.

Bethlehem also holds deep significance as the site where Christians believe Jesus was born and welcomes thousands of pilgrims each year for Christmas.

A banner hung in the city said "the city of peace welcomes the man of peace" along with photos of Abbas and Trump.

Their talks came with hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli jails on hunger strike since April 17, which Abbas referred to in his remarks after meeting Trump.

On Monday, Palestinians also held a general strike in support of the prisoners.

Clashes broke out near a checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah involving several hundred stone-throwing youths and Israeli soldiers who responded with rubber bullets and tear gas, leaving at least one wounded.

On Monday night in the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian enclave run by Abbas' rivals Hamas, the Islamist movement organized a demonstration to denounce its labeling as a "terrorist" group by many Western governments, including the United States.

Trump and Abbas met earlier this month at the White House.

Trump initially sparked deep concern among Palestinians when he backed away from the long U.S. commitment to a two-state solution to the conflict.

Meeting Netanyahu in Washington in February, he said he would support a single state if it led to peace, delighting Israeli right-wingers who want to see most of the West Bank annexed.

- Disputed Jerusalem -

During his election campaign, Trump also advocated breaking with decades of precedent and moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, alarming Palestinians.

He has since said the move was still being looked at.

At the same time, he urged Israel to hold back on settlement building in the West Bank, a longstanding concern of Palestinians and much of the world.

The most high-profile moment of Trump's stay in Jerusalem was his visit to the Western Wall, one of the holiest sites in Judaism.

He became the first sitting U.S. president to visit the site in the Israeli-annexed east of the city.

He was not accompanied by any Israeli leaders during the visit.

Allowing them to do so could have led to accusations that Washington was implicitly recognizing Israel's unilateral claim of sovereignty over the site, which would break with years of U.S. and international precedent.

The status of Jerusalem is ultra-sensitive and has been among the most difficult issues in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, stalled since April 2014.

Israel occupied the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, in the Six-Day War of 1967.

It later annexed east Jerusalem in a move never recognized by the international community and claims the entire city as its capital. 

The Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

After Israel and the Palestinian territories, Trump will head to the Vatican, and to Brussels and Italy for NATO and G7 meetings.

Comments 3
Thumb ex-fpm 23 May 2017, 09:34

"Instead of saying thank you to the United States, they now feel emboldened," Trump said.

Missing humble 23 May 2017, 20:26

Hope peace will take place so we can see all other diseases disappear...

Missing phillipo 24 May 2017, 15:47

As long as Abbas continues paying salaries to the families of killed and imprisoned terrorists, there is no chance for peace.
Trump mentioned this in his speech in Bethlehem, but I don't think that Abbas was listening, and certainly doesn't want to take action on it.