Vice President Mike Pence arrived on relatively friendly territory in Israel late Sunday after the leaders of Egypt and Jordan, two of America’s closest Arab allies, publicly rebuked him for the Trump administration’s upending of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

A day after he heard pointed complaints from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi in Cairo, Pence underwent a firm but polite tongue-lashing from Jordan’s King Abdullah II over President Trump’s abrupt declaration last month that the U.S. would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a decision that has roiled the region.

Meeting in a royal palace on a hilltop in Amman, Jordan, the king told Pence he had warned the White House about the danger of recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital outside of a negotiated agreement since Palestinians also claim the divided city as their capital in a future independent state.

Abdullah said he had repeatedly voiced “my concerns regarding the U.S. decision on Jerusalem that does not come as a result of a comprehensive settlement.”

Vowing to “be candid and frank,” Abdullah described the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as “a potential major source of instability” for Jordan and the region. “Today we have a major challenge to overcome, especially with some of the rising frustrations,” he added.

About two-thirds of Jordan’s population is of Palestinian ancestry, and the Hashemite kingdom is a key U.S. ally in the fight against Islamic State and other terrorist groups.

“Jerusalem is [as] key to Muslims and Christians as it is to Jews,” the king told Pence. “It is key to peace in the region. And key to enabling Muslims to effectively fight some of the root causes of radicalization.”

Pence looked straight across the table, his expression not changing as the king spoke. He later thanked Abdullah for his “warm hospitality” but made no apologies, calling Trump’s Jerusalem decision “historic.”

“Look, friends occasionally have disagreements,” Pence later told reporters traveling with him when asked about the tense tone of the remarks. He called the king’s comments “very candid but cordial.”

Pence is likely to get a far warmer reception in Israel, where he will be heralded by Israel’s right-wing government and many ordinary Israelis, who are ecstatic over Trump’s decision on Jerusalem.

The vice president has long called for changing U.S. policy on Jerusalem, something many evangelical Christians and hard-line pro-Israel voters in his base support, and wants to move the U.S. Embassy there from Tel Aviv as quickly as possible.

During his two-day stay in Jerusalem, Pence will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and speak to the Israeli Knesset, or parliament. Thirteen members of the Knesset — all 12 Arab members and one Jew — have said they will boycott his speech, calling Pence “messianic” and a “racist political pyromaniac.”

Pence will also visit both the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Western Wall, one of Judaism’s holiest prayer sites. It stands just a short distance from one of Islam’s holiest sites, Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

He has not scheduled a single meeting with a Palestinian, the first time a visiting senior U.S. official has done that in recent memory. Then again, he didn’t have much choice.

After Trump’s Dec. 6 announcement on Jerusalem, the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, said he would not receive Pence — and vowed further never again to take part in peace negotiations brokered by the United States.

Relations soured further after the State Department said it would withhold $65 million — more than half the money Washington usually provides — to a United Nations agency that provides aid to about 5 million Palestinians across the Middle East.

While in Amman, Pence asked Abdullah to convey a message to Palestinian Authority leaders that the White House would be open to talking to them, according to people familiar with the discussion.

Palestinians have declared a general strike, which usually entails street demonstrations, for Tuesday, Pence’s final day in Jerusalem. Some protests were already underway Sunday night in Bethlehem.

Hanan Ashrawi, a veteran Palestinian leader and member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said she did not expect entreaties from Jordan or Egypt to have much impact on the White House.

“If they are open to the reality and the historical depth of the conflict, maybe,” she said by telephone from the West Bank city of Ramallah. “But they have their own ideology and world view … and have demonstrated they are in collusion with Israel.”

Trump’s policies “have needlessly destroyed any measure of goodwill” that Palestinians might have felt toward his administration, said Diana Buttu, a Palestinian lawyer and former legal adviser to the Palestinian Authority.

“I can’t really see how they can regain any goodwill now,” Buttu said by phone from the northern Israeli city of Haifa.

Pence later visited U.S. troops at a military base near the Syrian border. In a brief address to troops, the vice president took the unusual step of blaming Senate Democrats for the government shutdown and for playing “politics with military pay.”

Elected U.S. officials traditionally do not engage in partisan attacks when addressing members of the armed services.</s>JERUSALEM (AP) — The Latest on Vice President Mike Pence's visit to Israel (all times local):

The Foreign Press Association in Israel is speaking out against an Israeli demand to strip-search a Finnish journalist covering the visit by Vice President Mike Pence.

The woman says she was taken behind a curtain on Monday at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, where she says she was questioned, patted down, and then asked to remove her bra for an inspection. She says she refused and was barred from covering the event.

The woman, who was born and raised in Finland, believes she was singled out because her father is Palestinian.

The FPA, which represents some 400 journalists working for international media in Israel and the Palestinian territories, accused Israel of ethnic profiling. It calls the Israeli practice of strip-searching journalists a "mark of shame" aimed at intimidating reporters.

Vice President Mike Pence says the "door's open" for the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table with Israel on a peace agreement.

Pence spoke to The Associated Press in an interview following his address to the Knesset on Monday. He says the U.S. is hopeful that the Palestinian Authority "will be encouraged to return to the table."

Palestinian leaders have assailed the U.S. for its decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, saying it is no longer impartial. They have rejected the U.S. role in future peace talks.

Pence says President Donald Trump made clear in December that the U.S. would respect "the status quo" with regard to holy sites and that boundaries in the Holy Land would be subject to negotiations.

The Palestinians have issued an angry reaction to Vice President Mike Pence's speech to the Israeli parliament, saying it was a "gift to extremists."

Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator, said Pence's speech on Monday "has proven that the U.S. administration is part of the problem rather than the solution."

Pence repeated the Trump administration's controversial decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and said the American Embassy will be moved to the city next year, earlier than previously expected.

The U.S. decision upended decades of American policy, and the stance of the international community, that the fate of Jerusalem be settled through negotiations.

The Palestinians claim Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their capital and accuse the U.S. of siding with Israel on the most sensitive issue in their conflict.

Vice President Mike Pence is calling the Iranian nuclear deal a "disaster" and says the Trump administration will no longer certify it.

Instead, Pence told the Israeli parliament on Monday that the administration is "committed to enact effective and lasting restraints on Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs."

Pence has received a warm welcome in Israel, which has praised the American decision last month to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is among the fiercest opponents to the nuclear accord the Obama administration reached with Iran, saying it could pave a path for the Islamic Republic acquiring a nuclear weapon that could threaten Israel's existence.

Pence says that the deal is not fixed and that in the coming months, the United States will "withdraw from the deal."

Vice President Mike Pence is "strongly" urging the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table.

In a speech to the Israeli parliament, Pence said on Monday that "peace can only come through dialogue."

The Palestinians have angrily protested the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and say the U.S. cannot be trusted as a mediator. They have said they will reject any peace plan the Trump administration presents.

Pence told the parliament that Israel "can be confident" that the U.S will never compromise Israel's security.

Vice President Mike Pence says the United States will open its embassy in Jerusalem next year, ahead of schedule.

In an address to the Israeli parliament on Monday, Pence defended the controversial decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, which has been condemned by the Palestinians and their Arab allies.

Pence says the administration will advance its plan in the coming weeks and the embassy will open by the end of 2019. Previous estimates had been the move would take three or four years.

The Palestinians claim Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem as their capital. They say the U.S. cannot be a mediator after the decision and have pre-emptively rejected any peace plan presented by the Trump administration.

Arab lawmakers in Israel's parliament have been tossed out from the house for heckling Vice President Mike Pence at the start of his speech.

The main Arab party in the Israeli parliament warned ahead of time it would boycott Pence on Monday.

The Knesset, which is accustomed to such high-profile visits, had added a new layer of security, and besides the speaker and other dignitaries, lawmakers did not have direct access to Pence.

Ayman Odeh, leader of the Joint Arab List, said it was the party's democratic right to boycott the speech by the U.S. vice president. In a tweet, he said the party will not provide a "silent backdrop" to a man he called a "dangerous racist."

Netanyahu called the boycott a disgrace. He and other gave Pence a standing ovation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is thanking visiting Vice President Mike Pence for standing up for the "truth" and supporting Israel at the United Nations.

Netanyahu told Pence on Monday in a speech to parliament that President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the country's capital will go down as one of the most historic in Israel's history.

Alternating between English and Hebrew, Netanyahu lauded the unbreakable alliance between the countries, saying they had a "shared destiny."

He said: "America has no greater friend than Israel, and Israel has no greater friend than the United States of America."

Pence has received a warm welcome in Israel, which has praised the American decision last month to recognize Jerusalem. The decision has infuriated the Palestinians and upset America's Arab allies as well.

Dozens of Palestinians are demonstrating in the West Bank city of Nablus against the visit of Vice President Mike Pence to Israel.

Protesters chanted against President Donald Trump and stepped on pictures of Pence in a sign of anger.

Some shouted: "Trump you are pig. May God demolish your home. How mean you are!"

The Palestinians are furious at Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The Palestinians seek east Jerusalem as their capital and accuse Trump of siding with Israel on the most sensitive issue in the conflict.

The Palestinians say the United States cannot be a mediator and have pre-emptively rejected any peace proposal the White House offers.

The Palestinians plan a mass strike on Tuesday against the Pence visit.

Vice President Mike Pence has arrived at Israel's parliament to deliver the keynote speech of his two-day visit that was part of a Mideast trip.

Pence signed the Knesset guest book on Monday and laid a wreath for the fallen soldier at its entrance plaza.

Pence has received a warm welcome in Israel, which has praised the American decision last month to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The decision has infuriated the Palestinians and upset America's Arab allies as well.

The main Arab party in the Israeli parliament said it will boycott Pence's speech — though it wasn't immediately clear whether they would walk out in protest, heckle or skip the session altogether.

Vice President Mike Pence has kicked off a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

Pence placed his right hand over his heart as an honor guard greeted him with the American national anthem.

White House Mideast envoy Jason Greenblatt, U.S. Ambassador David Friedman and the Israeli ambassador to Washington, Ron Dermer, joined Monday's ceremony before Pence and Netanyahu began their meeting.

Pence is receiving a warm welcome in Israel, which has praised the American decision last month to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The decision has infuriated the Palestinians and upset America's Arab allies as well.

Before Israel, Pence has visited Egypt and Jordan on the trip.

He is to deliver a speech to the Israeli Knesset, or parliament, later in the day.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>Jerusalem, Jan 22 (AP) Vice President Mike Pence kicked off his visit to Israel today with a morning meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which he said it was an honor "to be in Israel's capital, Jerusalem." Netanyahu thanked Pence for President Donald Trump's "historic" recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and lauded the American-Israeli alliance, which he said has "never been stronger." The brief exchange was part of an incredibly warm welcome for Pence in Israel, which has praised the American decision last month to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

The decision, though, has infuriated the Palestinians, with whom Pence is not meeting, and upset America's Arab allies as well.

Pence placed his right hand over his heart as an honor guard greeted him with the American national anthem. White House Mideast envoy Jason Greenblatt, US Ambassador David Friedman and the Israeli ambassador to Washington, Ron Dermer, joined the ceremony and Pence chatted briefly with Israeli soldiers before beginning his meeting with Netanyahu.

The vice president visited Egypt and Jordan prior to his arrival in Israel and is set to deliver a speech to the Israeli Knesset, or parliament, later in the day.

After the Jerusalem announcement, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he would not meet Trump administration officials and called off a meeting with Pence that had been scheduled for mid-December.

In a new expression of that snub, Abbas overlapped with Pence in Jordan from Saturday evening to midday yesterday, when the Palestinian leader flew to Brussels for a meeting with European Union foreign ministers.

There, Abbas is expected to urge EU member states to recognize a state of Palestine in the pre-1967 lines, and to step up involvement in mediation.

Nabil Abu Rdeneh, an Abbas adviser, reiterated that the United States "is no longer acceptable as a mediator" in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Netanyahu called Pence "a great friend of Israel" and said there was "no alternative for American leadership" in the peace process. "Whoever is not ready to talk with the Americans about peace does not want peace," he said at a meeting of ambassadors in Jerusalem.

Palestinians in the West Bank protested Pence's arrival by burning posters with his image.

In Israel, The main Arab party in the Israeli parliament says it will boycott his speech, though it is not clear whether they will walk out on Pence in protest or skip the session altogether.

The Knesset, which is accustomed to such high profile visits, has added a new layer of security and other then the speaker and other dignitaries, lawmakers will not have direct access to Pence.

In a new broadside, Ayman Odeh, leader of the Joint Arab List, said it was the party's democratic right to skip the speech. In a tweet, he said the party will not provide a "silent backdrop" to a man he says is a "dangerous racist." Netanyahu has called the boycott a disgrace. (AP) MRJ .

This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.</s>Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, shake hands with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence in Israel's parliament in Jerusalem, Monday, Jan. 22, 2018. (AP Photo/Ariel Schali</s>BEN-GURION AIRPORT, Israel (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence began a visit to Israel on Sunday after being praised as a “great friend” by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and shunned by the Palestinians over U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Pence was welcomed at Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion Airport by Israel’s tourism minister and made no statement to reporters before travelling to Jerusalem.

It is the highest-level U.S. visit to the region since President Donald Trump made his Jerusalem declaration on Dec. 6 and promised to begin the process of moving the American embassy to the city, whose status is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

With the Palestinians boycotting Pence, the visit provides little obvious opportunity to build bridges towards peace.

But it gave Pence, a conservative Christian, Netanyahu, a right-winger who has hailed U.S. evangelicals for their support of Israel, an opportunity to shine a spotlight on the holy land visit and their own warm relationship for a community that serves as a power base for Trump and his vice president.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, calling Trump’s declaration a ”slap in the face’, has rejected Washington as an honest broker in any future talks with Israel. Abbas left for an overseas visit before Pence arrived.

Pence, who flew into Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion Airport from Jordan on a U.S. military plane after visiting U.S. troops on the Syrian border, was met by Israel’s tourism minister, Yariv Levin.

Netanyahu, addressing his cabinet earlier on Sunday, described Pence as a “great friend of the State of Israel” and said they would discuss U.S. efforts “to halt Iran’s aggression, the Iranian nuclear programme, and ways to advance peace and security in the region.”

“Anyone who truly wants to fulfill those goals knows there is no substitute to the United States’ leadership,” Netanyahu said.

Trump’s shift on Jerusalem overturned decades of U.S. policy that its status should be decided in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. His declaration drew universal condemnation from Arab leaders and widespread criticism elsewhere.

In comments delivered in Egypt, his first stop on the Middle East visit, Pence said Washington would support a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians if the two sides agreed to it.

Visiting Jordan on Sunday before flying to Israel, Pence told its monarch, King Abdullah, that Washington was committed to preserving the status quo of holy sites in Jerusalem, a city sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians.</s>When presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers visit the Holy Land, the script is simple: a trip to the Israeli Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, and then off to Ramallah to meet the Palestinian leader.

But that script has been torn up in anger by the Palestinians for U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence's four-day visit to the Middle East.

"He is not welcome," said Hani Baidoun, a resident of East Jerusalem who has fought for an independent state for the Palestinians for much of his life. "[Pence] is against the position of the Palestinians."

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, has refused to meet with Pence, enraged by the decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Trump also began the process of moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

"May your house be destroyed," an angry Abbas told Trump during a fiery speech before Palestinian leaders last week, in which he also refused to work with the United States as a mediator in future negotiations with the Israelis.

The Pence visit comes six weeks after the vice-president stood next to his boss in the White House as Trump reversed decades of American policy that the status of Jerusalem should be decided in talks between both sides.

That declaration saw Palestinians take to the streets in protest, in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank. Some of those demonstrations turned violent, with the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs reporting that 14 Palestinians were killed in clashes and Israeli airstrikes in the three weeks after Trump made his speech.

The policy shift continues to roil the Middle East, and has forced Pence to explain the U.S. position to two important regional allies, Egypt and Jordan, the only neighbours of Israel that have diplomatic relations with the Jewish State.

After meeting Egypt's president Abdul Fattah el-Sisi on Saturday, Pence said there is a "disagreement between friends," but he noted "that nothing has changed and that we are absolutely committed to building a partnership for security, confronting terrorism together, but also finding ways that we can advance the peace process."

Right now, that process is stalled, despite Trump's declaration that he wants to negotiate the "ultimate deal" between the Israelis and Palestinians even in the face of deep divisions over Jerusalem.

Israel views the city as its eternal and undivided capital, and its leaders have heaped praise on Trump for recognizing what they say is an inevitable truth: that with Israel's parliament and government offices located in Jerusalem, it's only right to bestow this recognition.

"It's declaring what we already know, but it shows to the world that this is the capital of Israel," said Jerusalem resident Lisa Nemets. "So we stand with that."

The vice-president is scheduled to speak before the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, on Monday afternoon. Pence will be given a warm welcome by Israeli lawmakers, although Arab members of parliament are boycotting the address.

Palestinians want to establish the capital of a future state in East Jerusalem, and on Sunday they received a boost from King Abdullah II of Jordan, who voiced his backing of "East Jerusalem as the capital of an independent Palestinian state."

Canada, like most nations with diplomatic relations with Israel, has committed to keeping its diplomatic mission in Tel Aviv until the final status of Jerusalem has been settled in negotiations. At least one other country, Guatemala, is following the American lead after the Central American nation announced it will move its embassy to Jerusalem.

The relationship between the Trump administration and the Palestinians suffered yet another blow last week, when the United States decided to withhold $65 million in funding for UNRWA, the UN Relief and Works Agency that assists Palestinian refugees, raising fears that schools and medical clinics could face cuts.

Hanan Ashrawi, a senior member of the PLO, the Palestine Liberation Organization, accused the United States of "punishing the most vulnerable populations" and "destabilizing neighbouring countries of Jordan, Syria and Lebanon."

Pence was scheduled to travel to the Middle East in mid-December, but the trip was delayed because of a tax vote in the U.S. Senate. He has said the visit is an opportunity to discuss American concerns about the international agreement to limit Iran's nuclear program and to fight religious persecution of Christians in the region.

An evangelical Christian who famously said he is "a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order," Pence was supposed to go to the Biblical town of Bethlehem, but that has also been scrapped from the itinerary.

Evangelical Christians remain some of Trump's strongest supporters, and some political watchers say his decision on Jerusalem was aimed at keeping that part of his base happy. They see the move as standing in support of Israel, as well as fulfilling a Biblical prophecy.

Brian Parsons, the vice-president of the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem, hailed Trump's declaration as "courageous."

He added in an interview with CBC News: "We think that the Pence visit is another expression of solidarity with Israel, which we think is very needed. Too often the world gangs up on Israel and bullies Israel in very unfair ways."

But PLO member Ashrawi, who is Christian, took aim at Pence, said in an interview that his "evangelical extremist fundamentalist Christianity… goes against the whole tradition of pluralism and tolerance and inclusion.

"That's why I don't believe he should come here."</s>US Vice President Mike Pence has met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi after starting his Middle East tour amid outrage over President Donald Trump’s globally condemned decision to recognize Jerusalem al-Quds as the capital of the Israeli regime.

 Pence told reporters in Cairo on Sunday that Egypt’s objection to the decision is “disagreement between friends,” adding “We heard President el-Sisi out.”

 Even before making the decision, Trump had shattered any prospects of the two-state solution, but Pence still assured Sisi that he would pursue the so-called solution.

 “My perception was that he was encouraged by that message,” said the former Indiana governor, who himself played a key role in the decision.

 Pence, a conservative Christian, is the most senior American politician to visit the region after the decision.

 The vice president later arrived in Jordan, where King Abdullah has warned against the decision. Pence will also be meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, where he will be “warmly welcomed,” according to Reuters.

 The vice president who mostly focused on the so-called two –state solution in the meeting with Sisi, is not even scheduled to meet Palestinian leaders.

 “(Sisi) noted that a solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will only come through negotiations based on a two-state solution, and Egypt would spare no effort to support this,” a statement from the Egyptian presidency said.

 ‘Blind supporter of Israel: Pence’s visit to Cairo serves as the highest-level one by a top US official in nearly a decade. Palestinians have called on other Arab countries not to receive Pence. “There is no justification to receive the US official, since his statement confirmed adoption of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” said Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas.

 Osama Qawasmi, Fatah’s spokesman in the West Bank, also told Xinhua that, “Pence’s visit to the region is totally unwelcome since he is a blind supporter of Israel.”

 The head of Israel’s Arab coalition party also vowed to boycott Pence’s visit, asserting that he could cause “the destruction of the entire region.”

 “We were asked if there’s a change in our position regarding Pence’s visit… He is a dangerous man with a messianic vision that includes the destruction of the entire region,” Ayman Odeh, wrote on Twitter. “He comes here as the emissary of a man who is even more dangerous… a political pyromaniac, a racist misogynist who cannot be allowed to be lead the way in our region.”—Agencies</s>The Palestinians on Monday slammed the speech of the US Vice President Mike Pence he addressed the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in which he expressed his country’s commitment to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Pence’s speech “is a gift to the extremists and proves that the American administration is part of the problem rather than the solution,” Xinhua quoted Saeb Erekat, Secretary General of the Executive Committee of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), as saying.

Pence addressed the Knesset on Monday, giving a strong pro-Israeli speech and promising the controversial relocation of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem would be completed in less than two years.

Pence’s visit to Israel came amidst heightened tensions in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s statement on December 6, which said that US recognises Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The announcement was denounced by the Palestinians and other countries.

The Palestinian Follow-up Committee for the National and Islamic Forces in the Gaza Strip said Pence’s visit to Israel “is a reflection of the American bias towards the Israeli occupation and its racist policies.”

It warned that the policies of the US administration “will push the region towards explosion and end any possibility for peace and stability in the Holy Land and the world at large.”

Deputy Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, who is also a senior Hamas leader, Ahmed Bahr, said Pence’s visit to Israel is not welcomed.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App</s>Vice-President Mike Pence began a visit to Israel on Sunday, after a tense meeting in Jordan in which King Abdullah appealed for an effort to “rebuild trust and confidence” shattered by US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Pence was welcomed at Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion airport by Israel’s tourism minister. He made no statement to reporters before travelling on to Jerusalem, having arrived from Jordan on a US military plane after visiting American troops on the Syrian border.

It is the highest-level US visit to the region since Donald Trump made his Jerusalem declaration on 6 December and promised to begin the process of moving the US embassy to the city.

In Jordan, Pence tried to reassure Abdullah the US was committed to restarting peace talks and to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, if both sides agreed.

Such a caveat deviates from longstanding US policy, which is that a two-state solution is the only possible outcome of any peace deal.



Trump’s announcement on Jerusalem drew condemnation across the Arab world and infuriated the Palestinians, who seek the Israeli-annexed eastern sector of the city as a future capital. They accused the US of siding with Israel and said Washington can no longer serve as a mediator.

Trump’s policy shift posed a dilemma for Abdullah, a staunch US ally who derives his political legitimacy in large part from the Hashemite dynasty’s role as guardian of a key Muslim site in Jerusalem.

Any perceived threat to Muslim claims in the city is therefore seen as a challenge to Jordan, where a large segment of the population is of Palestinian origin.

Pence told Abdullah the US has committed “to continue to respect Jordan’s role as the custodian of holy sites, that we take no position on boundaries and final status”.

It was a message Pence also relayed on Saturday during talks with the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, in Cairo.

After meeting US troops, to whom he delivered a strong denunciation of Democratic tactics in the federal government shutdown in Washington, Pence told reporters he and Abdullah had “a very frank discussion”.

“Look, friends occasionally have disagreements and we agreed to disagree on the decision by the United States to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,” he said. “But what we agreed on was the need for all parties to come back to the table.

“The Palestinian Authority has been absent from direct negotiations since 2014. And I hope I impressed upon King Abdullah our earnest desire to restart the peace process.”

Abdullah expressed concerns about the regional fallout from the Jerusalem decision.

“Today we have a major challenge to overcome, especially with some of the rising frustrations,” he said.

Abdullah described the Pence visit as a mission “to rebuild trust and confidence” in getting to a two-state solution, in which a state of Palestine would be established in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, lands captured by Israel in 1967.

With the Palestinians boycotting Pence, the Israel visit provides little obvious opportunity to build bridges. But it does give Pence, a conservative Christian, and Netanyahu, a rightwinger who has hailed US evangelicals for their support, an opportunity to shine a spotlight on their warm relationship.

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, who called Trump’s declaration a “slap in the face”, left for an overseas visit before Pence arrived.

Addressing his cabinet on Sunday, Netanyahu said Pence was a “great friend of the state of Israel” and said they would discuss US efforts “to halt Iran’s aggression, the Iranian nuclear programme, and ways to advance peace and security in the region”.



“Anyone who truly wants to fulfil those goals knows there is no substitute to the United States’ leadership,” Netanyahu said.</s>JERUSALEM (AP) - Vice President Mike Pence kicked off his visit to Israel with a Monday morning meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which he said it was an honor to be in "Israel's capital, Jerusalem."

Netanyahu told Pence it was the first time a visiting dignitary could utter those three words along with him, and he thanked Pence for President Donald Trump's "historic" recognition of Jerusalem. The Israeli leader also lauded the American-Israeli alliance, which he said has "never been stronger."

The brief exchange was part of an exceptionally warm welcome for Pence in Israel, which has praised the Trump administration's decision last month to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The decision, though, has infuriated the Palestinians, with whom Pence is not meeting, and upset America's Arab allies as well.

Pence placed his right hand over his heart as an honor guard greeted him with the American national anthem. White House Mideast envoy Jason Greenblatt, U.S. Ambassador David Friedman and the Israeli ambassador to Washington, Ron Dermer, joined the ceremony and Pence chatted briefly with Israeli soldiers before beginning his meeting with Netanyahu.

Pence said he was grateful to be representing Trump and that his decision to designate Jerusalem as the Israeli capital would "create an opportunity to move on in good faith negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority."

The vice president said he was hopeful "we are at the dawn of a new era of renewed discussions to achieve a peaceful resolution to a decades-long conflict."

Prior to his arrival, Pence visited Egypt and Jordan, where he was warned by King Abdullah II that he had to "rebuild trust and confidence" after the Jerusalem move.

Pence is set to deliver a speech to the Israeli Knesset, or parliament, later in the day.

After the Jerusalem announcement, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he would not meet Trump administration officials and called off a meeting with Pence that had been scheduled for mid-December.

In a new expression of that snub, Abbas overlapped with Pence in Jordan from Saturday evening to midday Sunday, when the Palestinian leader flew to Brussels for a meeting with European Union foreign ministers. There, Abbas is expected to urge EU member states to recognize a state of Palestine in the pre-1967 war lines, and to step up involvement in mediation.

In Brussels, EU's top diplomat Federica Mogherini said the aim was "to support an international framework to accompany direct negotiations" despite the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Mogherini said "the only pragmatic, realistic solution for Jerusalem has to come through direct negotiations."

Nabil Abu Rdeneh, an Abbas adviser, reiterated that the United States "is no longer acceptable as a mediator" in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Netanyahu called Pence "a great friend of Israel" and said there was "no alternative for American leadership" in the peace process. "Whoever is not ready to talk with the Americans about peace - does not want peace," he said at a meeting of ambassadors in Jerusalem.

A small group of Palestinians in the West Bank town of Bethlehem protested Pence's arrival by burning posters with his image.

Meanwhile, the main Arab party in the Israeli parliament said it will boycott Pence's speech - though it wasn't immediately clear whether they will walk out on Pence in protest or skip the session altogether. The Knesset, which is accustomed to such high profile visits, has added a new layer of security, and other then the speaker and other dignitaries, lawmakers will not have direct access to Pence.

Ayman Odeh, leader of the Joint Arab List, said it was the party's democratic right to boycott the speech by the U.S. vice president. In a tweet, he said the party will not provide a "silent backdrop" to a man he called a "dangerous racist."
Abdullah II of Jordan tells U.S. Vice President Mike Pence the U.S. has to rebuild "trust and confidence" to achieve a two-state solution in Israel after the U.S. recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital.