"Peace is a choice we must make each day," President Trump said during a visit to the West Bank city of Bethlehem, where he reiterated his resolve to help mediate a peace deal between the Israelis and the Palestinians and sounded upbeat about its prospects.

"The United States is here to help make that dream possible for young Jewish, Christian and Muslim children across the region," Trump said Tuesday as he stood alongside Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Trump also expressed an even loftier hope than an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement: "I also firmly believe that if Israel and the Palestinians can make peace, it will begin a process of peace all throughout the Middle East, and that would be an amazing accomplishment."

The idea of Israeli-Palestinian peace leading to regional peace is the "exact opposite" of what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been pushing, says NPR's Daniel Estrin:

"He's looking for a kind of outside-in approach, first peace between Israel and Sunni Arab states, who have a common enemy in Iran, and that regional peace leading to Israeli-Palestinian peace. So Trump is, in those remarks, kind of putting Israeli-Palestinian peace kind of in the center of the agenda."