Trump visits Jerusalem to seek paths to Israeli-Palestinian peace

US President Donald Trump visits Jerusalem on Monday to seek ways to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Trump's visit is part of his first trip abroad as president and follows an initial stop in Saudi Arabia, a key US ally, where he urged Islamic leaders to take a stand against violence committed in the name of religion.

Trump will hold talks with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders during the course of his two-day stop.

Trump is due in Tel Aviv on Monday afternoon and, ahead of talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, will tour two iconic sites in Jerusalem, a city holy to Muslims, Christians and Jews.

On Tuesday, Trump will meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Bethlehem in the West Bank, visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem and give a speech at the Israel Museum.

The US President has called an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement "the ultimate deal", but has been vague about what form it should take.

He has said he prefers to leave it to both sides to decide between them in direct talks.

During his speech in Riyadh on Sunday, Mr Trump also stated again that he believed peace between Israelis and Palestinians was possible.

Trump has sent mixed signals about how he will approach the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but the US president has been widely seen as considerably more supportive of Israel than his predecessor, Barack Obama. He has taken a softer position on the contentious issue of Israeli settlements, suggesting that their expansion rather than their existence might hamper the search for peace.

Israel occupied east Jerusalem and the West Bank in 1967, where more than 600,000 Jews live in about 140 settlements built since the beginning of the occupation. The moves were never recognised by the international community.

Israel later annexed east Jerusalem and claims the entire city as its capital. The Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

Trump has also sent mixed signals on the issue of Jerusalem, pledging to move the US embassy there from Tel Aviv, angering Palestinians and delighting Israelis.