BETHLEHEM: US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas during a meeting at the presidential palace in this West Bank city yesterday. - AFP

JERUSALEM: US President Donald Trump called on Israelis and Palestinians to make compromises for peace yesterday as he wrapped up a closely watched visit, but offered no specifics on how to resolve the conflict. In a speech before he flew to Rome for a high-profile meeting with Pope Francis, Trump offered a forceful defense of the Jewish state and pledged to protect the country from Iran. But he also vowed he was "personally committed" to helping Israel reach a deal with the Palestinians, while backtracking from previous claims that could be easier than thought to achieve.

"Making peace however will not be easy," Trump told an audience at the Israel Museum. "Both sides will face tough decisions. But with determination, compromise and the belief that peace is possible, Israelis and Palestinians can make a deal." He offered no detail and did not specifically mention the two-state solution, long the focus of international efforts and US Middle East diplomacy.

The parts of the speech offering a robust defense of Israel drew loud applause, which seemed to energize Trump on the second leg of his first foreign trip since taking office. After mentioning threats to Israel from Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran, he said, "not with Donald J Trump," drawing enthusiastic applause. "I like you too," Trump said when the audience quietened.

Trump's speech, welcomed by Israeli right-wingers, came after he met Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank earlier in the day. On Monday, he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. Trump also laid a wreath and spoke at a ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem yesterday. The visit follows an initial leg in Saudi Arabia, where he urged Islamic leaders to confront extremism.

Abbas had sought to convince the unpredictable US president to remain committed to an independent Palestinian state. Trump arrived in Bethlehem by motorcade, crossing a checkpoint at Israel's controversial separation wall, and was greeted by Abbas and other dignitaries outside the city's presidential palace. Abbas reiterated his call for a two-state solution to the conflict, including a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital. "We are ready to open dialogue with our Israeli neighbors to build confidence and create a real opportunity for peace," he said after talks with Trump.

The US president used the occasion to also condemn the "evil losers" behind a bomb blast at a pop concert in the British city of Manchester that killed 22 people. The talks came with hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli jails on hunger strike since April 17, which Abbas referred to in his remarks after meeting Trump. Palestinians staged a general strike Monday in support of the prisoners. Clashes broke out near a checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ramallah involving several hundred stone-throwing youths and Israeli soldiers who responded with rubber bullets and tear gas, leaving at least one wounded.

Trump will meet Pope Francis, with whom he has clashed repeatedly, today morning at the Vatican. He travels on to Brussels in the afternoon before flying back to Italy late tomorrow for a G7 summit on Friday and Saturday. - Agencies