Britain stands with you, William tells Palestinians
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 yesterday, 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 last night 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: “Thank you for welcoming me and I’m very glad that our two countries work so closely together and have had success stories with education and relief work in the past and long may that continue.
“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 a day that included a street festival of song and dance about the history of its people.
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.
“This is only too evident among the young people I have met, who long for a new chapter to be written in the history of this region – a chapter which will secure them a prosperous future and will ensure that their enormous talents can flourish. These are not extravagant aspirations, but the same aspirations of young people everywhere in the world.”
The Duke’s speech was warmly welcomed by Palestinians, including a group who had travelled from Gaza to tell him about their lives.
“He addressed us as Palestinians in the consulate of Her Majesty in East Jerusalem,” said Maged Abu Ramadan, one such guest.
“It will be very impactful on ears, hearts and minds.
“The misery in Gaza is a feeling of being abandoned, a feeling of being orphans.
“To have a member of the Royal family to take the time and make the effort to remember us and tell us ‘you are not left alone’ is very important.”
Today, the Duke will spend time at the Mount of Olives, including a visit the grave of his great-grandmother Princess Alice, the Duke of Edinburgh’s mother.