US president arrives in Israel for high-profile visit

By Kaamil Ahmed

JERUSALEM

The U.S. presidential airplane, Air Force One, touched down in Israel's Ben Gurion Airport on Monday, kicking off U.S. President Donald Trump's much anticipated official visit to the country.

Trump was welcomed by the entire Israeli cabinet, members of which were ordered to attend by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, before holding an initial meeting with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin.

Trump will also visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Western Wall, important Christian and Jewish holy sites in Jerusalem's Old City, before meeting with Netanyahu.

Tuesday will also see a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem as Trump attempts to revive long-stalled peace talks in pursuit of an “ultimate deal”.

Since his election campaign, Trump has suggested that he could be the U.S. president to resolve the decades-long Palestine-Israel conflict.

Since assuming the presidency, he has apparently shifted away from more controversial proposals, such as relocating the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem -- the eastern half of which Palestinians want as an eventual capital.

The visits come as part of Trump's first foreign trip, which began in Saudi Arabia -- where he delivered a speech on Islam to Muslim leaders -- on Sunday.

He is also slated to visit the Vatican, where he will meet Roman Catholic Pope Francis.