Just weeks after the US President announced he was recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Mr Trump has demanded Palestine returns to the negotiating table to try and broker peace in the fragile region.

He wrote: “It's not only Pakistan that we pay billions of dollars to for nothing, but also many other countries, and others. As an example, we pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS a year and get no appreciation or respect. 

“They don’t even want to negotiate a long overdue peace treaty with Israel. 

“We have taken Jerusalem, the toughest part of the negotiation, off the table, but Israel, for that, would have had to pay more. 

“But with the Palestinians no longer willing to talk peace, why should we make any of these massive future payments to them?”

The comments came shortly after Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, threatened to cut funds to UNRWA, the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees, unless the Palestinian Authority went back to the negotiating table.

The US provides £191million ($260million) worth of funding for the Palestinians, with an additional £37million ($50million) used to support Palestinian security services.

The remarks come ahead of a visit to Jerusalem by US vice president Mike Pence after a previous trip was rescheduled. However, recent developments means the vice president’s trip is looking less likely to go ahead.

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Mr Trump’s comments were met with praise by Israel, with deputy defence minister, Elli ben Dahan responding: “Finally the US president tells the Palestinians the truth. These Arabs have cheated the world for years … If the Palestinians refuse to talk, we will benefit. The state of Israel will grow and the settlement project will grow.”

Hanan Ashrawi, a senior member of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) accused Trump of “sabotaging” the peace process, saying he had “not only violated international law”, but also had “single-handedly destroyed the very foundations of peace”.

President Trump’s Jerusalem announcement in December sparked warnings from Hamas about possible uprisings against Israel.

Spontaneous protests broke out in the hours after Mr Trump’s speech and tensions in the West Bank remain dangerously high.

The US President has started the new year with a series of aggressive tweets about other foreign powers.

He threatened to withdraw aid to Pakistan and accused the country of harbouring terrorists while lambasting Iran and even mocking old enemy Kim Jong-un, once again branding him ‘Rocket Man’ and boasting about the size of his nuclear button.