Donald Trump has announced his intention to visit Israel, Saudi Arabia and Vatican City later this month, with the intention of “unifying the world against intolerance”, according to White House officials.

In prepared remarks released ahead of time to the press, Mr Trump said he would call for a gathering of Arab leaders in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, and attempt to “build a coalition of friends and partners who share the goal of fighting terrorism and bringing safety, opportunity and stability to the Middle East.”

He would then proceed on to Israel (with a provisional date of May 22 to May 23), before flying to Rome to meet the Pope, and finishing his tour with trips to Brussels and Sicily for NATO and G7 summits.

Topics on the agenda are set to include intensifying the war against the Islamic State, uniting the region against Iran and negotiating peace in the Middle East.

This will not be Mr Trump’s first visit to Israel – the real estate mogul visited in 1989, supposedly to look at the possibility of building a casino in the southern coastal city of Eilat.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, visited the US in February to meet Mr Trump, saying that "there is no greater supporter of the Jewish people and the Jewish state."

However, Mr Trump has made no move to transfer the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, despite making that a campaign pledge. He has also expressed concerns at Israel’s settlement building activity, telling Mr Netanyahu at their meeting to “hold back on settlements for a bit”.

On Wednesday Mr Trump hosted the leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, and put forward his view that peace between the Israelis and Palestinians is “frankly maybe not as difficult as people have thought over the years.”

Mr Netanyahu subsequently criticised President Abbas for "lying" to Mr Trump, saying: "I heard President Abbas yesterday say that the Palestinians teach their children peace. Unfortunately, that's not true. They name their schools after mass murderers of Israelis and they pay terrorists”.

However, the Israeli Prime Minister said that he looked forward “to discussing with President Trump the best ways to advance peace. This is something we fervently share with the president.”