President Trump to visit Israel, Saudi Arabia and the Vatican

This will not be Mr Trump’s first visit to Israel – the real estate mogul visited in 1989, supposedly to look at the possibility of building a casino in the southern coastal city of Eilat.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, visited the US in February to meet Mr Trump, saying that "there is no greater supporter of the Jewish people and the Jewish state."

However, Mr Trump has made no move to transfer the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, despite making that a campaign pledge. He has also expressed concerns at Israel’s settlement building activity, telling Mr Netanyahu at their meeting to “hold back on settlements for a bit”.

On Wednesday Mr Trump hosted the leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, and put forward his view that peace between the Israelis and Palestinians is “frankly maybe not as difficult as people have thought over the years.”

Mr Netanyahu subsequently criticised President Abbas for "lying" to Mr Trump, saying: "I heard President Abbas yesterday say that the Palestinians teach their children peace. Unfortunately, that's not true. They name their schools after mass murderers of Israelis and they pay terrorists”.

However, the Israeli Prime Minister said that he looked forward “to discussing with President Trump the best ways to advance peace. This is something we fervently share with the president.”