BETHLEHEM, Palestinian Territories  — Donald Trump makes the short trip from Jerusalem to Bethlehem on Tuesday to meet Mahmud Abbas, who hopes to convince the unpredictable US president to remain committed to an independent Palestinian state.

His talks in Bethlehem with the Palestinian president come after Trump on Monday made a heavily symbolic visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem and met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Later on Tuesday, Trump will return to Jerusalem to visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and give a speech at the Israel Museum before wrapping up his two-day stop.

Trump’s visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories is part of his first trip abroad as president, and follows an initial leg in Saudi Arabia, where he urged Islamic leaders to confront extremism.

He has spoken of reviving long-stalled peace efforts between the Israelis and Palestinians, but few specifics have emerged of how he intends to do so.

Before dinner at Netanyahu’s residence on Monday, Trump avoided delving into details.

"I’ve heard it’s one of the toughest deals of all, but I have a feeling that we’re going to get there eventually, I hope," he said.

Separation wall

Security will be tight for Trump’s journey to Bethlehem, a 20-minute drive from Jerusalem but located across Israel’s controversial separation wall.

The wall is part of a project begun in 2002 during the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, that is to extend some 700km once completed.

It is a stark symbol for Palestinians of Israel’s 50-year occupation of the West Bank, and in Bethlehem the wall has been covered by graffiti and street art.

Trump is to meet Abbas at the presidential palace in Bethlehem, which holds deep significance as the site where Christians believe Jesus was born.

Their talks come with hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli jails on hunger strike since April 17, and activists were hoping to display banners in Bethlehem to drawn Trump’s attention to it.

Hossam Zomlot, an aide to Abbas, said that "if President Trump wants to mediate and leads us to a historic agreement, a major agreement, we are ready to be his partners".

Trump and Abbas met earlier this month at the White House.

Trump initially sparked deep concern among Palestinians when he backed away from the long US commitment to a two-state solution to the conflict.

Meeting Netanyahu in Washington in February, he said he would support a single state if it led to peace, delighting Israeli right-wingers who want to see most of the West Bank annexed.

Trump also advocated during his campaign breaking with decades of precedent and moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, deeply alarming Palestinians.

He has since said the move was still being looked at.

At the same time, he urged Israel to hold back on settlement building in the West Bank, a longstanding concern of Palestinians and much of the world.

The most high-profile moment of Trump’s stay in Jerusalem was his visit to the Western Wall, one of the holiest sites in Judaism.

He became the first sitting US president to visit the site in the east of the disputed city. — AFP