Prince William lands in Israel as part of regional tour

Britain's Prince William voiced his horror over the Nazi Holocaust in a solemn start on Tuesday to the first official visit by a British royal to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Wearing a black Jewish skullcap, William, second in line to the throne, laid a wreath in the Hall of Remembrance at the Yad Vashem memorial, where an eternal flame flickers and the names of extermination and concentration camps are engraved in the floor.

"Terrifying," William said, viewing a display at the memorial's museum of shoes taken by the Nazis from Jews at a death camp. "(I'm) trying to comprehend the scale."

The prince also met two men who survived the Nazi genocide through British intervention. He is also expected to meet Israeli leaders during his visit. 

The following day he is scheduled to meet Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, before meeting Palestinian refugees and young people.

On Thursday, he is to complete his stay by visiting historical and religious sites in Jerusalem.

“We know this is not a time when we can celebrate progress in the Middle East peace process, but we believe that engagement is just as important in challenging times as it is in good times,” Philip Hall, Britain’s consul general in Jerusalem, told journalists on Monday.

“We know some of the politics are difficult, but this is not a political visit.”

While in Jerusalem, William will also visit the grave of his great-grandmother Princess Alice, who is buried in Jerusalem. She was honoured by Israel for sheltering Jews during World War II.

Israel defines Jerusalem as its “eternal and indivisible” capital, while the Palestinians see East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.

US President Donald Trump’s December decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital angered Palestinians, and the May inauguration of the US embassy in the city coincided with bloody border protests in the Gaza Strip.

Some right-wing Israeli politicians have criticised the fact William’s visit to East Jerusalem is being organised by the British consulate, which deals with the Palestinians.

Hall said they were following “decades” of rulings in the United Nations that declare East Jerusalem, including the Old City, part of the occupied Palestinian territories.

Israel seized the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War.

Official visits by British royals are organised at the request of the UK government.    

Other members of William’s family, including his father Prince Charles, have made unofficial visits to Israel and east Jerusalem in the past.