US President Donald Trump is hosting Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas for White House talks which US officials hope could restart the Middle East peace process - but other observers are not so hopeful.

While the two leaders have exchanged letters and phone calls Wednesday will be their first face-to-face meeting.

The Trump White House is expected to ask the Palestinian Authority (PA) president to take steps towards rekindling the long-stalled peace talks with Israel, including ending Palestinian anti-Israeli rhetoric, the incitement of violence, and support for Palestinians in Israeli jails, according to officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Mr Abbas, meanwhile, is looking for US commitment to improving dire Palestinian economic conditions, as well as promises on reining in Israeli settlement building in the West Bank, and letting go Mr Trump’s campaign promise to move the US embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which both parties consider their capital.

While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that the Palestinian failure to recognise Israel as a Jewish state is the biggest obstacle to peace, settlement building, which has increased year-on-year under his right-wing coalition government, is viewed internationally as one of the major stumbling blocks to a lasting peace deal.

Since Mr Trump - widely viewed to be more sympathetic to Israeli interests than his predecessor Barack Obama - entered office in January, the number of planning permits approved for building on Palestinian land in the West Bank and East Jerusalem has skyrocketed.

The Israeli government announced more than 11,000 new settler homes in the West Bank, as well as the retroactive legalisation of 4,000 “outpost” Jewish homes built on private Palestinian land.

Barack Obama uses final interview as President to slam Israeli policy on settlements

A further 15,000 new settlement homes in East Jerusalem were announced by Israel’s housing minister in April.

The bold moves are believed to have been encouraged by Mr Trump's election victory.

The total settler population in the West Bank is thought to be 550,000 strong, or 13 per cent of Israel’s population - but the huge number of new units announced in just the first 100 days of the Trump presidency could see that figure soar.

While the international community views all Israeli construction over the 1967 Green Line as illegal, Mr Trump has blown hot and cold over the subject.

During his campaign, the president had said the Israeli government should “keep going” with the construction of new settlements, but walked back some of that language after entering office, calling new construction “not good for peace”.

Israel: From independence to intifada Show all 7 1 /7 Israel: From independence to intifada Israel: From independence to intifada The proclamation of the state of Israel is read by David Ben-Gurion in Tel Aviv on 14 May 1948 © EPA Israel: From independence to intifada Sixty years on, an illuminated flag is shown in Tel Aviv this week © PA Israel: From independence to intifada Young Jews celebrate the proclamation of the state of Israel in 1948 © AFP/Getty Images Israel: From independence to intifada Palestinian children throw stones at a retreating Israeli tank during an incursion into the West Bank city of Jenin in August 2003 following a suicide bombing in Jerusalem © AP Israel: From independence to intifada How Israel's borders have changed - click image to enlarge © Independent Graphics Israel: From independence to intifada From 1948-50, the world's mostcelebrated war photographer Robert Capa captured extraordinary imagesof Israel's pioneering settlers. Here, Turkish immigrants arrive in Haifa © Robert Capa/Getty Images Robert Capa/Magnum Israel: From independence to intifada The Negba kibbutz, where the walls have been damaged by shells fired during the Israeli-Arab war © Robert Capa/Getty Images Robert Capa/Magnum

He told Mr Netanyahu during a news conference in Washington DC in February that while Israel is the US’ “cherished ally” he would like to see his counterpart “hold back a little bit” on settlement building.

Mr Trump is expected to reiterate that settlement construction does not advance peace prospects in his meeting with Mr Abbas, but observers remain unconvinced any concrete steps will be taken.

“I have, and most Palestinians have, zero expectations of [the talks], Diana Buttu, a Ramallah-based political analyst and former advisor to Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) chair and PA President Mahmoud Abbas, told The Independent.

“When I look at what [Mr Trump] says and does nothing makes me believe he will really try to end the occupation or be able to challenge Israel. Just look at settlement growth since he became president. Abbas will get nothing out of this meeting.”

Vice President Mike Pence told reporters on Tuesday, the eve of Mr Abbas’ visit, that the US was still “seriously considering” moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, as per Mr Trump’s campaign promise.

The suggestion had prompted Mr Abbas to write to the US president warning that such a move could incite violence that could “open the gates of hell.”

Mr Trump appears to sincerely want to secure peace in the intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict, putting his son-in-law Jared Kushner in charge of brokering a peace deal.