Prince William slips up, calling Palestine a ‘country’ during historic visit to Israel and West Bank
The prince is the first high-ranking member of the British royal family to make official visits to both Israel and the Palestinian territories
Britain’s Prince William found himself on diplomatic thin ice during a visit to the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Wednesday when he called the Palestinian territories a “country”.
Meeting with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, the prince appeared to fall foul of the complex language surrounding the Middle East conflict.
“Thank you for welcoming me, and I am very glad that our two countries work so closely together and have had success stories with education and relief work in the past,” he told Abbas, speaking without notes.
Western countries typically refrain from referring to the Palestinian territories as a country or state, instead supporting the Palestinian demand for sovereignty in the future – the so-called two-state solution. And while Palestine has observer status at the United Nations, it is not a fully recognised member state.
The Likud party of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who met with the prince in Jerusalem on Tuesday, rejects Palestinian statehood and supports Jewish settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Abbas’s Palestinian Authority is based.
My message tonight is that you have not been forgotten
Israel’s coalition government, considered the most right-wing in the country’s history, includes ministers who have voiced support for annexing the West Bank.