TEL AVIV — U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday there is now a “rare opportunity to bring security and stability and peace” to the Middle East, as he arrived in Israel for his first visit there as the U.S. leader. Reports Voice of America.
Speaking at a welcome ceremony at Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Trump said the opportunity involved defeating terrorism and that it can only be achieved by “working together.”
He arrived on a historic direct flight from Saudi Arabia to Israel after a giving a speech Sunday in Riyadh on the need for a united fight against terrorism.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu referenced Trump’s address in his own welcome remarks, saying Israel shares the same commitment to peace and has its hand “extended in peace to all our neighbors, including the Palestinians.”
Trump has indicated a desire to restart the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations that broke down in 2014.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters traveling with the president that Trump “feels like there is a moment in time here” and an opportunity to advance the process.
“I think the president has indicated he’s willing to put his own personal efforts into this, if the Israelis and the Palestinian leadership are ready to be serious about engaging as well,” Tillerson said.