Tabnak - Within the framework of his first trip abroad as the President of the United States, Donald Trump travelled to Israel (occupied Palestine), in an apparent effort to further strengthen US-Israel relations. However, it seems that his too much cordial approach toward Saudi Arabia has caused disturbance among the Israelis.
Associated Press reports that the US President Donald Trump opened his first visit to Israel Monday, a two-day stop aimed at testing the waters for jumpstarting the dormant Middle East peace process. Trump arrived in Israel from Saudi Arabia, where he basked in the lavish welcome he received from the kingdom’s royal family.
Reuters writes in a separate report that over two days, Trump is to meet separately with both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and visit holy sites. On Monday in Jerusalem (Beit ol-Moghadas), he will pray at the Western Wall and visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
On his first foreign tour since taking office in January, Trump is already showing signs of fatigue from a packed schedule. He is on a nine-day trip through the Middle East and Europe that ends on Saturday after visits to the Vatican, Brussels and Sicily.
However, Trump has vowed to do whatever is necessary to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians, but has given little sign of how he could revive long-stalled negotiations.
When he met Abbas earlier this month in Washington, he stopped shortly of explicitly recommitting his administration to a two-state solution to the decades-old conflict, a long-standing foundation of US policy. Some Palestinians said they were disappointed by the omission.
A senior official who was part of the Palestinian delegation has said to the Associated Press that Trump is planning to try to relaunch peace talks, with a goal of reaching an agreement within a year.
The Trump administration rejected a request from the Palestinians to push for an Israeli settlement freeze, but promised to sort out the issue during peace negotiations, according to the official, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the private meeting and spoke on condition of anonymity.
This is while, after Trump’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia, Israel has voiced concern about the ability to retain its "qualitative military edge" in the Middle East following the $110 billion arms package signed between the US and Saudi Arabia over the weekend, Press TV reported today.
"Saudi Arabia is a hostile country and we must ensure that Israel’s qualitative military edge is preserved,” Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz was quoted as saying by the Israeli media on Monday.
Under the deal, Riyadh will receive $110 billion in arms effective immediately, plus at least another $350 billion over the next 10 years, which Steinitz called "a matter that really should trouble us."
At the same time, Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz said the US-Saudi arms deals should be in line with "a regional coalition under American leadership to block and push back Iran.” "At the same time Israel’s qualitative military edge should be maintained,” he said.
All in all, it seems that Trump has a hard task to keeping good relations with both its Arab allies in the Middle East and Israel. As his Middle East policy is still in the making, one should wait and see to which direction exactly the future of American policy in the region will be directed.
