Prince William arrives in Israel for historic royal visit

JERUSALEM >> Prince William arrived in Israel on Monday for the first-ever official visit of a member of the British royal family to the tumultuous region London once ruled.

Arriving from neighboring Jordan, the Duke of Cambridge landed at Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport and then departed to Jerusalem, where he will stay at the elegant King David Hotel, site of the former administrative headquarters of the British mandate.

Three decades of British rule between the two world wars helped establish some of the fault lines of today’s Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Britain’s withdrawal in 1948 led to the eventual establishment of Israel and Jordan.

Britain has since taken a back seat to the United States in mediating peace efforts, and the royal family has mostly steered clear of the region’s toxic politics.

For the 36-year-old William, second in line to the throne, it marks a highprofile visit that could burnish his international credentials.

Though the trip is being billed as nonpolitical, and it places a special emphasis on technology and joint Israeli-Arab projects, William will also meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders and will visit landmark Jerusalem sites at the heart of the centuryold conflict.

Today he will visit Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, where he will meet two survivors who escaped Nazi Germany for the safety of Britain.