Prince William will next week become the first member of Britain鈥檚 royal family ever to pay an official visit to both Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Britain governed the region under a League of Nations mandate for almost three decades until Israel鈥檚 independence 70 years ago, and is still blamed by both sides for sowing the seeds of a conflict that continues to wrack the region.
Second in line to the British throne, the 36-year-old will arrive Monday without his wife Kate, who in April gave birth to their third child, Prince Louis.
William鈥檚 visit comes at a particularly sensitive time after US President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as capital of Israel and moved Washington鈥檚 embassy there, sparking Arab outrage and deadly clashes on Israel鈥檚 border with Gaza.
Dror Zeigerman, a former Israeli ambassador to London, said the Jewish state has long sought a royal visit.
鈥淲e asked many times for a visit of Prince Charles or the Queen and we were refused,鈥� he told AFP.
鈥淚 assume that it鈥檚 not the queen or the prince, it鈥檚 the Foreign Office鈥� I don鈥檛 know why they changed their mind, maybe it鈥檚 time.鈥�
Official visits by British royals take place at the request of the government, but statements from the prince鈥檚 household have given little explanation for the timing of next week鈥檚 trip.
Kensington Palace has underlined the 鈥渘on-political nature of His Royal Highness鈥檚 role 鈥� in common with all royal visits overseas鈥�.
But west of the Jordan River, everything is political.
The official schedule鈥檚 reference to east Jerusalem as 鈥渋n the Occupied Palestinian Territories鈥� has sparked particular anger among some right-wing Israeli politicians.
鈥淯nited Jerusalem has been the capital of Israel for more than 3,000 years,鈥� Jerusalem Affairs Minister Zeev Elkin, of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu鈥檚 right-wing Likud party, wrote on Twitter.
鈥淣o distortion in the briefing document for this or that tour will change reality,鈥� said the minister, who is running for mayor of Jerusalem.
Israel defines the entire city as its 鈥渆ternal and indivisible鈥� capital, while the Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.
Israel seized the West Bank and Arab east Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Six Day war.
It later annexed east Jerusalem in a move never recognised by the international community and condemned as 鈥渁 violation of international law鈥� in a 1980 UN Security Council resolution.
But the Jerusalem Post newspaper shared Elkin鈥檚 view.
鈥淛erusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people since the time of King David,鈥� it wrote. 鈥淚t deserves more than a royal snub by the Duke of Cambridge.鈥�
The Post did however describe the visit as 鈥渁 welcome, and long overdue, gesture after 70 years of Israeli independence.鈥�
Packed schedule聽
Other members of William鈥檚 family have made unofficial visits to Israel and east Jerusalem in the past.
His father, Prince Charles, attended the 1995 funeral of assassinated Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin and that of former president Shimon Peres in 2016.
In 1994 the Duke of Edinburgh, William鈥檚 grandfather, attended a ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in honour of his own mother, Princess Alice of Greece, who sheltered Jews from the Nazis during World War II.
Charles and his father have both visited the tomb of the princess on the Mount of Olives in east Jerusalem.
William will do the same.
He arrives on Sunday in Amman, where he will stay at King Abdullah鈥檚 private residence, although he is not expected to meet the monarch.
Kensington Palace says the visit aims at 鈥渂uilding relations鈥� with the heir to the Hashemite throne, 23-year-old Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah.
Hussein, like his father and Prince William, is a graduate of Britain鈥檚 Sandhurst military academy. He has a British-born mother.
William鈥檚 packed schedule includes meetings with young Jordanians, British servicemen and Syrian refugees.
On Monday he will fly to Israel and stay at Jerusalem鈥檚 King David hotel, which was Britain鈥檚 administrative headquarters during its rule of Palestine prior to Israeli statehood in 1948.
In 1946 militant Jews waging violent resistance against British rule bombed the building, killing and wounding scores of people, many of them British civil servants or military personnel.
On Tuesday, June 26, William will visit Yad Vashem and lay a wreath.
He will then have talks with Netanyahu and meet President Reuven Rivlin.
The following day he will call on Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah and meet Palestinian refugees and young people.
On the final day of his visit, Thursday June 28, he will visit Jerusalem鈥檚 Mount of Olives.聽 聽/vvp