It’s one of the world’s longest-running conflicts.
Peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis has eluded every single American president, but Donald Trump’s self-belief in his own expertise as a salesman has him promising to be the one to make the “ultimate” deal in the Holy Land.
“I really believe that we can achieve a deal here,” the President said in comments published in an Israeli newspaper on Friday. “We have a good chance to get the deal done.”
On the campaign trail, Mr Trump said he would be the “most pro-Israel” president ever — promising he would recognise Israel’s claim to Jerusalem as its capital by moving the American embassy there from Tel Aviv and refraining from criticising illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Early indications suggested he would be true to his word.
Mr Trump appointed his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, who has close ties to a religious West Bank settlement, as a peace envoy to the Middle East.
He then picked David Freidman to be the new US ambassador to Israel, a man with a long history as a fundraiser for the settlement movement.
Read the full analysis by Sophie McNeill at ABC News.