Donald Trump in Bethlehem calls for the 'obliteration' of terrorism after Manchester Arena attack

US president reiterates desire to broker peace in the intractable Arab-Israeli conflict on what he described as a ‘morning of death’ following suicide bombing that left 22 dead

US President Donald Trump has used a trip to the West Bank to repeat his call to the Arab world in particular to “obliterate” extremism following the attack on Manchester Arena which killed at least 22 people.

“The terrorists and extremists and those who give them aid and comfort must be driven out from our society forever,“ the president said in Bethlehem on Tuesday, standing alongside Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

“This wicked ideology must be obliterated.”

Isis has claimed responsibility have yet been made for the suicide bomb which targeted concert-goers, including several children, at an Ariana Grande pop concert in Manchester on Monday night.

Mr Trump was meeting with Mr Abbas in the West Bank during the fourth and final day of the Middle East leg of his first foreign trip since entering office. It was sad that a meeting designed to foster peace should occur on a “morning of death,” he added.

Air Force One arrived in Tel Aviv from Riyadh, the Saudi Arabian capital, on Monday.

Fresh from talks with Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia in which the president said he gave him “new reasons for hope” of lasting peace in the region, Mr Trump reiterated his desire to broker peace in the Arab-Israeli conflict - a feat he has again described as “one of the toughest deals of all”.

“I have a feeling that we're going to get there eventually, I hope,“ Mr Trump said on Monday night, although few US policy specifics have emerged to shed light on how the president plans to do so.

Mr Trump met with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin and visited holy sites in Jerusalem before travelling through a checkpoint in the Israeli security wall to Bethlehem on Tuesday morning.

At a joint media conference with Mr Abbas Mr Trump noted a Palestinian agreement with Israel could “begin a process of peace all throughout the Middle East.”

Abbas said he was enthusiastic about “keeping the door open to dialogue with our Israeli neighbours.”

“Meeting you in the White House earlier this month given us hope… and optimism of the possibility to make the long-standing dream of lasting peace come true,” the Palestinian leader said, who is keen to convince the unpredictable president of the importance of creating an independent Palestinian state.

“The children of Palestine and Israel must enjoy a safe and prosperous future,” he added.

Mr Trump is widely viewed in Israel and the wider Middle East as far more sympathetic to Israeli interests than his predecessor Barack Obama.

Despite his pro-Israeli campaign trail rhetoric, since entering the White House Mr Trump has caught some Israeli hard-liners off guard with the suggestion the government should “hold back” on settlement building, and his administration has equivocated over whether the US embassy will move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as promised.

He has, however, repeatedly emphasised his sincere desire to broker a peace deal in the intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict, putting his son-in-law Jared Kushner in charge of such efforts.

In remarks to media after their meeting on Monday Benjamin Netanyahu also described the election of his US counterpart as a new cause for hope in reviving long-stalled peace talks.

“It won't be simple. But for the first time in many years - and, Mr. President, for the first time in my lifetime - I see a real hope for change.”

The US president is scheduled to return to Israel to pay his respects at the Holocaust Remembrance Centre and deliver a speech at the National Museum of Israel before leaving for the Vatican - the next stop on his five-leg tour of the Middle East and Europe.

Mr Trump will also visit Brussels for a Nato summit before heading to Sicily for a meeting of the G7.