Following the latest royal wedding, Prince William is set to visit Israel this coming month.
But as nice as this news is, USA Today has rained on the parade:
Having just wound up a historic royal wedding, Britain is sending future king Prince William on a historic trip to Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian territories next month, Kensington Palace said Thursday, laying out some details of the much-anticipated visit.
The Duke of Cambridge, the second in line to the throne, will visit Amman and Jerash in Jordan, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in Israel, and Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, between June 24 and 28, a palace statement said. It’s likely security will be heavy over the five days of the visit.
It will be the first official royal visit to Israel and what the British government calls the “Occupied Palestinian Territories” since 1948, when Britain’s 25-year control of the region (known as the British Mandate) ended on the eve of Israel’s independence.
The visit, which the palace first announced by tweet in March, comes as Israel is celebrating its 70th anniversary year of independence, and after years of pleading in vain for British governments to send a high-ranking royal to help bolster its standing in the world.
I am pretty sure the British government does not refer to Israel as the “Occupied Palestinian Territories.” (Perhaps what is meant here is Judea and Samaria, referred to as the “Occupied territories” by much of the world after we liberated the lands in 1967).
Then again, I am also sure the reporter here – Maria Puente – should stick to “covering entertainment, celebrities and royals for the LIFE section.”
