Upon Queen Elizabeth II’s death on September 8th, her grandson William, Prince of Wales, moved up the British Royal Family’s line of succession to become the heir apparent to the throne.
Hailed for his skillful diplomacy, William became the first royal to visit Israel in an official capacity on a trip in which he described achieving peace in the Middle East as his “lifelong project.”
With William now the future King of the United Kingdom, we wonder if he will remain committed to that pledge.
The events that received the most news coverage of William’s 2018 visit occurred during his tour of Jerusalem, where he took in numerous holy sites, including the Jewish Western Wall, the Muslim al-Aqsa mosque, which is built atop the Temple Mount, and the Christian Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Visiting sites central to the three main religions reflected efforts to ensure the trip was strictly “non-political,” whereby the official itinerary carefully balanced conflicting interests to avoid any potential controversy. Notably, a “message of peace” was passed from then-Israeli President Reuven Rivlin to Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority.
The press reports of William’s trip were primarily positive: former ambassador to the UK, Mark Regev, who accompanied the prince, described it as “an unparalleled success” and the Mirror’s royal editor Russell Myers declared he had “passed [his first major test] with flying colors.”
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The media’s reaction likely influenced the decision to send William’s father, Charles, on an official royal visit to the Holy Land in 2020, although he had gone ‘unofficially’ twice before for the funerals of former Israeli prime ministers Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres.
With Charles’ accession to the throne as King Charles III, both the King and first in line have now visited Israel in what is perhaps a clear break from the late Queen’s unofficial boycott of the country.
Despite the generally favorable responses to Prince William’s visit, there was some ire regarding the official itinerary referring to Jerusalem’s Old City as “Occupied Palestinian Territories.” When asked to comment on this controversial wording, a spokesperson for the British Foreign Office bluntly stated: “East Jerusalem is not Israeli territory.” This marked the first foray into thorny political issues on what was meant to be an apolitical trip.
The UK government’s assertion is made on the basis that during the 1967 Six-Day War, the area of eastern Jerusalem where the Old City was reclaimed by Israel, which forms the basis of the flimsy argument that the Old City belongs to the Palestinians.
However, Palestinians have never actually had control of the area, which after being passed from the Ottoman empire to the British Mandate, was eventually given to Jordan. Anti-Israel media outlets gloss over this reality by referring to East Jerusalem as former “Arab” territory to avoid stating that it was never Palestinian land.
Another instance where certain details of an overall well-balanced trip were framed in a way that advanced an anti-Israeli agenda was when Prince William was quoted as saying Palestinians “have not been forgotten.” This was contrasted against Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital by moving the US embassy there in 2018.
Read More: Will Queen Elizabeth’s Death Trigger a New Era in the Royal Relationship With Israel?
Finally, media wrangling erupted when William referred to the Palestinian Authority as a “country” during a conversation with Mahmoud Abbas. Variously described as a “semantic slip” and “a break with diplomatic protocol,” the press battled to draw conclusions about William’s unknown views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In an attempt to downplay the significance of William’s visit, Haaretz skeptically labeled the trip “diplomatically meaningless,” questioning whether both Israeli and British Jews care for royalty that has facilitated “hostility” towards them over the centuries.
But by all accounts, the visit was important as it showed the younger generation of frontline royals will not shy away from political issues. While the Royal Family is required to uphold the constitutional convention of political neutrality, King Charles and Prince William are expected to begin a process of modernization to ensure the royals remain relevant in a rapidly-changing world.
Eventually, this could involve a greater allowance for Prince William to push for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
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Photo: Hillel Maeir via TPS
