UK stands with you, says Prince
The Duke of Cambridge has delivered a message of hope to Palestinians, telling them that they have not been forgotten and that the ‘‘UK stands with you’’.
The Duke, who spent time in the Palestinian Territories this week, called for ‘‘lasting peace for the region’’, as he visited Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president.
Saying hopes for peace and security were not ‘‘extravagant aspirations’’, the Duke told guests at a garden party yesterday that he wished his visit to shine a light on the friendship between the Palestinian and British people.
‘‘My message tonight is that you have not been forgotten,’’ he said. ‘‘The United Kingdom stands with you, as we work together for a peaceful and prosperous future.’’
The Duke is the first member of the Royal family to visit the Palestinian Territories, spending time in Ramallah and Jalazone refugee camp. On Tuesday, he had been asked by Reuven Rivlin, the Israeli President, to deliver a ‘‘message of peace’’ to Mr Abbas at their meeting yesterday, in an unexpected public intervention.
Mr Abbas, in turn, told the Duke of his ‘‘full commitment to achieving a full and lasting peace based on a two-state solution, where the state of Palestine lives side by side with the state of Israel with both supervising peace and security’’.
The Duke replied: ‘‘My sentiments are the same as yours in hoping there is a lasting peace for the region, so thank you.’’
At a party at the British Consulate General in Jerusalem, the Duke spoke of how he had enjoyed learning more about Palestinian culture.
In Jalazone, opened in the wake of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, he visited refugees now living in concrete buildings, in an area of high unemployment and violent clashes between Palestinians and a neighbouring Israeli settlement.
Praising the region’s young people, culture and food, the Duke said: ‘‘I am also struck by how many people in the region want a just and lasting peace.’’
The Duke’s speech was warmly welcomed by Palestinians, including a group who had travelled from Gaza to tell him about their lives. - Telegraph Group