Prince William to visit Jordan, Israel, West Bank in June
Whirlwind visit between June 24-28 will be the first official political visit by any member of the Royal Family to Israel; it will begin in Jordan and end in the West Bank.
Kensington Palace says Prince William will visit Israel and the Palestinian territories at the end of June—the first British royal to make an official visit there.
The prince will begin his June 24-28 trip in Amman, Jordan, then travel to Jerash in Jordan; Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in Israel; and Ramallah in the West Bank.
This is the first official political visit by any member of the Royal Family to Israel. It comes at the British government's request.
The visit by the second in line to the throne “is at the request of Her Majesty’s government and has been welcomed by the Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian authorities,” the palace said in a statement.
The trip was announced earlier this year, but the dates and destinations were disclosed Friday.
William's father, Prince Charles, attended the 2016 funeral of former Israeli President Shimon Peres in a private capacity.
Prince Charles also attended a birthday celebration on Thursday marking Israel's 70th anniversary at London’s Royal Albert Hall which was a rare occurrence since the Royal Family has generally refrained from participating in Israel-related events.
During the celebrations in the UK, Charles sat in a royal box next to the Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky.
At the end of last year, Prince Charles came under attack following revelations that he penned a letter advocating for the US administration to “take on the Jewish lobby” and attributing unrest in the Middle East to “the influx of foreign Jews,” according to reports first published in The Mail on Sunday.
In the letter written to a close friend, Laurens van der Post in 1986, the prince highlights the exodus of European Jewry over the course of the 20th century as a phenomenon that "helped to cause the great problems."
