Trump deletes tweet praising his meeting with Abbas

US President Donald Trump removed a tweet from his personal Twitter account in which he said it was an “honour to host [Palestinian] President Mahmoud Abbas”.

After meeting with Abbas on Wednesday, Trump tweeted: “An honour to host President Mahmoud Abbas at the WH today. Hopefully something terrific could come out it [sic] between the Palestinians & Israel.”

He also attached a two-minute video to the tweet with footage from the meeting.

Early yesterday morning the tweet was deleted from Trump’s account, without any explanation.

US President Donald Trump deleted this tweet which shows him meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the White House on 3 May 2017

The tweet was first posted while Abbas met with Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson.

Trump regularly posts pictures of his meetings with various leaders, including with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Jordanian King Abdullah II.

During his visit, Abbas attended an event at the Washington Centre, alongside members of Congress and former senior officials from the administrations of Barack Obama, George Bush and Bill Clinton, as well as representatives from major Jewish organisations.

Abbas said that he was very optimistic after his meeting with Trump and that the US president is committed to achieving peace as soon as possible.

Abbas also noted that his steps are in coordination with Egypt, Jordan, and other major countries in the Arab world, and that the best way to reach peace is through the Arab Peace Initiative.