ANALYSIS
KENSINGTON Palace’s announcement in May that the Duke of Cambridge was to visit Jordan, Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories at the request of Her Majesty’s Government – all royal visits to non-Commonwealth countries are at the request of the Government – came at a tense moment.
The US embassy had moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem despite Israel’s sovereignty over Jerusalem not being recognised internationally. And that day 60 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces during border protests.
Fast forward a month and the Duke’s visit has so far been a relaxed, resounding success with smiles and a willingness to make him feel welcome despite an undercurrent of unrest.
That Kensington Palace called the visit “non-political” has to be a given. As second in line to the throne, the Duke is forbidden constitutionally from taking a political stance. But it shouldn’t stop him from being the catalyst between the opposing sides in the Israel-Palestinian border disputes. He knows he’s walking a political tightrope but he seems to be taking it in his stride.
Gesture
In Jerusalem the Duke was asked by Israel’s president Reuven Rivlin to take a “message of peace” from him to the president of Palestine this week. Quite how the Duke will do this without overstepping the “non political” theme remains to be seen.
Maybe the British ambassador who will be at the meeting with Mahmoud Abbas will step in to hand over Israel’s request. That gesture would certainly get the Duke off the political hook.
It has always been said actions speak louder than words and the Duke has relied on those actions rather than be drawn into political debate. In July 2017 the Duke, with his wife, visited the wartime Stutthoff concentration camp in northern Poland where 65,000 Jews lost their lives.
Yesterday he visited Yad Vashem, the moving Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem where he attended a service, laid a wreath and rekindled the eternal flame in memory of the six million Jews killed by the Nazis.
There is no doubt any highprofile visit to Israel and the occupied territories will capture world attention. That the Duke of Cambridge has made history by being the first Royal Family member to make an official visit will not go unnoticed by all the players in the area.
He will also have seen both the Israelis and the Palestinians attempt to live side by side, giving him a better understanding of the volatility of the region.
But whether the Israelis and Palestinians actually sit down to talk peace when William leaves is up to them and having seen what he has seen, he might well ask himself: just why won’t they sit down and talk peace?