US President Donald Trump expressed optimism about Middle East peace prospects as he visited Israel on his first foreign trip since taking office. Trump arrived fresh from inking a 12-figure arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
Image: Reuters/J. Ernst
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US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday hailed their countries' friendship and reiterated their commitment to working with Arab leaders to bring an end to violence in the region, with a special emphasis on the threat they say is posed by Tehran.
Trump emphasized the enduring friendship between the US and Israel while also complimenting the leaders he met during his previous stop-over in Saudi Arabia.
"We can truly achieve a more peaceful future for this region and for people of all faiths and all beliefs and frankly all over the world," Trump said.
Trump and Netanyahu spoke to reporters before their meeting in JerusalemImage: Reuters/J. Ernst
The US president also expressed optimism that peace could be achieved between Israelis and Palestinians, while acknowledging the challenge of achieving such a deal. "I've heard is one of the toughest deals of all," he said.
Speaking before Trump, Netanyahu warned of Iran's "unbridled ambition to become a nuclear state" while also expressing his optimism over what he called "a real hope for change" in the Middle East.
First for a US president
Prior to his address alongside Netanyahu, Trump visited two of Jerusalem's most famous holy sites on Monday, part of his first overseas trip after being elected last November.
Trump first visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, supposedly built on the site where Jesus Christ was buried and then resurrected, before paying a visit to the Western Wall. He is the first sitting US president to visit the latter site.
Prior to the trip, Trump's administration drew controversy by declining to say whether it belonged to Israel.
Trump with Israeli President Reuven RivlinImage: Reuters/J.Ernst
Trump addresses Israeli-Palestinian divide
Earlier, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin told Trump that Israel was honored to welcome a partner in both business and peace.
"We created a miracle, a technological miracle, a human miracle, and, even during our most difficult times, we never gave up," Rivlin said, describing Israel's seven-decade expansion. However, he said, "we have not yet achieved our mission of living in peace with our neighbors: the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world."
Trump has vowed to do whatever he can to broker peace between Israelis and Palestinians, but has given few specifics as to how he intends to revive long-stalled negotiations.
"Thank you very much and shalom," Trump told Rivlin. "I am honored to be in the great state of Israel," a nation whose "friendship" will "always be No. 1 to me."
After his meeting with the president, Trump, who flew to Israel directly from Saudi Arabia, said he felt Muslim leaders were equally intent on putting an end to religious extremism and stop "the threat posed by Iran."
'We love Israel'
Air Force One landed in Tel Aviv at about 12:25 p.m. local time (0925 UTC) on Monday.
"We love Israel," Trump said in prepared remarks delivered on the tarmac. "We respect Israel." Speaking, he said, for the American people and addressing the alliance between the nations, he added: "We are with you, thank you and god bless you, thank you."
Netanyahu noted that Trump's choosing to visit Israel so early in his presidency was another of the US chief executive's unprecedented decisions. "Your visit here is truly historic," Netanyahu said, addressing Trump. "Never before has a first foreign trip of a president of the United States included a visit to Israel." He added that the country was eager to show off its successes after a more mutually skeptical relationship with Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama: "We've built a modern, vibrant, democratic and Jewish state."
"May your trip be a milestone on the path to peace," Netanyahu said.
Trump and his wife, Melania, were welcomed by Netanyahu, his wife, Sara, and President Rivlin and his wife, Nechama. "Your visit is a symbol of the unbreakable bond between Israel and America," Rivlin said. "You are the president of Israel's greatest, most important ally. You are a true friend of Israel and of the Jewish people."
Later, Rivlin addressed an emotional speech Trump had made to the leaders of several predominantly Sunni nations on Sunday in which he called on them to join forces with the United States in opposing Iran's meddling in regional conflicts. After Trump told Israel's president that Iran had brought many Middle Eastern nations in some way closer to Israel's point of view, Rivlin said: "Every challenge creates an opportunity."
Trump defends intelligence sharing
During a press conference alongside Netanyahu, Trump attempted to defend himself from accusations that he shared highly sensitive Israeli intelligence with Russian officials earlier in the month. Responding to a reporter on the subject, Trump said, "I never mentioned the word or the name Israel."
He then went on to chastise the media for reporting otherwise - even though media outlets did not report that he had said that during his meeting with the Russians.
Anonymous White House officials confirmed to several media outlets in the wake of that scandal that the intelligence had indeed come from Israel.
Trump will travel to the occupied West Bank on Tuesday to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Trump's Middle East visit - awaited with skepticism and hope
As US President Donald Trump makes his first international trip, residents of the Middle East from all walks of life share what they expect of him.
Image: Reuters/F. Al Nasser
Nayef al-Hayzan in Saudi Arabia: 'Will have positive impact'
US President Trump visits two bastions of relative calm in the war-battered Middle East: Saudi Arabia and Israel. In a café in Riyadh, Nayef al-Hayzan explained why he is confident about the US president's trip: "I expect that Trump's visit will have a positive impact on the Saudi economy, and discussions are expected to tackle the problems in Syria."
In Jerusalem, Israel, falafel shop owner Ovad Chen has a more fatalistic view: "I see myself as a very simple person and I believe that at the end of the day, God controls everything. Therefore, it doesn’t really matter what Trump is saying or doing in the Middle East or anywhere else."
Image: Reuters/N. Elias
Iraqi fighter Ali Bassem: 'He is a hero'
All 50 Muslim states whose leaders Trump will meet in the Saudi capital are menaced by the rise of the so-called Islamic State. Ali Bassem, an Iraqi fighter the on the frontline in Mosul is enthusiastic: "He is a hero. He got [IS] out of Iraq. He is cooperative with the Iraqi people and we and the Americans are one nation. We are brothers."
Image: Reuters/D. Siddiqui
Pub owner Somar Hazim in Damascus: 'No clear methodology'
In his pub in Damascus, Syria, Somar Hazim explained his views: "His Syria policy is based on interests, in the sense that there's no clear methodology. As for the issue of arming the Kurds, I do not oppose this as long as the goal is fighting a common enemy of the Syrian state, which is [IS], provided that these weapons are not exploited to create a partitioned idea of Syria."
Image: Reuters/O. Sanadiki
Sherine Haji in Syria: 'I am worried for my people'
Sherine Haji, a female fighter in the Kurdish YPG militia rests in a hospital in Syria. She has a more critical view: "The plan to arm the YPG is a decision taken late. If this support was happening in the first place, the advances would have been quicker. Now I'm wounded, I've lost two legs, I'm worried for my people. This must end, there must be a free and peaceful life in this country."
Image: Reuters/R. Said
Anonymous female fighter in the Gaza strip: 'A man of war'
An anonymous female fighter from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), in the southern Gaza Strip remarked: "Trump is a man of war, he works on spreading war, chaos and killing among people. Like other presidents who came before him, I do not see he will bring about peace or any good to the Palestinian people. I see that there is another war coming."
Image: Reuters/I. A. Mustafa
Marla Awad from Syria on the travel ban 'very bad decision'
Attitudes are also colored by the actions of Trump's first months in power, among them his attempt to ban citizens of some mostly Muslim countries from traveling to the US. Marla Awad from Damascus was upset: "What matters to me was one very bad decision - his refusal to allow Syrians to immigrate to America is racist. Traveling was a dream of mine to fulfill my ambitions to study and work."
Image: Reuters/O. Sanadiki
Student Mubarak Mashali in Egypt: 'Things will get worse'
In Egypt, Mubarak Mashali, a student at Cairo University, was very skeptical, "I think Trump is going to ruin things and make them worse than they already are throughout the whole Middle East."
Image: Reuters/M. A. El Ghany
Sattar Muhsin Ali in Baghdad: 'Trump's policy will hold positive elements'
A different attitude was expressed by Sattar Muhsin Ali in his store in Baghdad, Iraq: "I think the core policy of Trump is focusing on eliminating terrorism and drying out its financial sources in the world and curbing the terror-supporting states. Iraq suffered a lot from the policy of former American administrations which led to the spread of chaos and finally to the emergence of [IS]."
Image: Reuters/T. Al-Sudani
Dates seller Djamel Bouktech in Algeria: 'Will always be friends'
In Algiers, Algeria, dates seller Djamel Bouktech is pragmatic: "I think it's just a simple courtesy visit because the Arabs of the Middle East are and will always be friends and strong allies of the USA. This will have a positive effect for the allies and a negative for the others in the Middle East in the long term because of the fragility of the region."
Image: Reuters/R. Boudina
Refugee Lara Shahin hopes for a 'return to a democratic country'
Trump's decision to launch cruise missiles against a Syrian airbase to punish Damascus for a chemical weapons attack was analyzed by Lara Shahin in Amman: "Trump's decision to strike at the airbase was a surprise move that raised my hopes the US president will take bolder decisions in the future that would end President Bashar al-Assad's rule and allow me to return home to a democratic country."
Image: Reuters/M. Hamed
George Gharib in Lebanon: 'Trump will be like all previous presidents'
In his shop in Beirut, Lebanon, George Gharib doesn't expect much: "I do not expect any change in American policies towards the region, especially since President Trump is committed to moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem and there is no intention to
pressure Israel. He will be like all previous presidents who came before him
with bias and abiding by Israeli interests."
