Prince on Mideast visit at tricky time
NON-POLITICAL: RIGHT-WING ISRAELIS TAKE ISSUE
British view east Jerusalem as occupied Palestinian territory as per UN rulings.
Jerusalem
Prince William honoured Holocaust victims and met Israeli leaders yesterday as he began the first official visit by a British royal to both Israel and the Palestinian territories, at a time of heightened tension.
The second in line to the British throne, wearing a black skullcap, rekindled the eternal flame and laid a wreath at Israel’s Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem. The 36-year-old prince also toured the museum at the site perched on a hillside in west Jerusalem.
His visit comes at a particularly sensitive time after US President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as capital of Israel, outraging Palestinians and sparking deadly clashes on the border with Gaza.
Britain governed the region under a League of Nations mandate for almost three decades until Israel’s independence 70 years ago, and is still blamed by both sides for sowing the seeds of the ongoing conflict.
William met with two Holocaust survivors, Paul Alexander and Henry Foner, who as children had escaped from Nazi Germany to Britain.
While in Jerusalem, William will also visit the grave of his great grandmother, Princess Alice, who was honoured by Yad Vashem in 1993 for sheltering Jews in Greece from the Nazis in World War II.
Prince William later headed for talks with Israeli leaders. He met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, and was also due to see President Reuven Rivlin.
Officials stressed the visit of the future king was non-political and focused on building relations with young people. Yet he is likely to rub up against the complicated realities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, particularly while visiting the disputed city of Jerusalem.
Today he will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, before meeting Palestinian refugees and young people.
Tomorrow he visits historical and religious sites in Jerusalem.
“We believe engagement is just as important in challenging times as in good times,” Philip Hall, Britain’s consul general in Jerusalem, said. “We know some of the politics are difficult, but this is not a political visit.”
Some right-wing Israeli politicians have criticised that William’s visit to east Jerusalem was organised by the British consulate, which deals with the Palestinians. Hall said they were following decades of rulings in the United Nations declaring east Jerusalem, including the Old City, part of the occupied Palestinian territories. –