Prince Charles tours Palestinian territories during Middle East visit
During the trip, the Prince of Wales visited the grave of his late grandmother Princess Alice as well as many of the holy Christian and Muslim sites.
By ZACHARY KEYSERBritain's Prince Charles arrives to visit Omar mosque in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank(photo credit: REUTERS)
On his two-day junket in the Middle East, Prince Charles went on a tour through Jerusalem’s Old City, its vicinity and Bethlehem for the first time in his life Friday.During the trip, the Prince of Wales visited the grave of his late grandmother Princess Alice as well as many of the holy Christian and Muslim sites spread across the West Bank including the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem known to be the birthplace of Jesus - the day after he addressed leaders at the World Holocaust Forum.His grandmother was honored for her humanitarian efforts in Nazi-occupied Athens during World War II, sheltering scores of Jewish refugees from persecution, in which she was eventually named Righteous Among the Nations by Israel's Holocaust memorial association. She was buried near her aunt at the Church of Mary Magdalene in the Old City.During the visit to her grave, the Prince added that he has "long drawn inspiration from the selfless actions of [his] dear grandmother."Additionally, he toured the Mosque of Omar located opposite of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City, named after the Caliph Omar who conquered Jerusalem in 637 and after taking the city, decreed that Christians would still able to practice their religion freely after Patriarch Sophronius' amiability and refinement influenced the ancient Muslim leader.While visiting the Palestinian territories, the Prince of Wales also met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at his official residence to discuss the onset of the proposal for the United States peace plan regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.According to WAFA, Abbas thanked the United Kingdom “for its assistance to the Palestinian people in building state institutions, as well as its assistance to the UNRWA, and for accepting the two-state solution and rejecting the US-led “deal of the century."“Our hope in the near future is that Britain recognizes the State of Palestine, because we’ve heard that the British Parliament recommended this to the government. So we hope that this will happen,” Prince Charles said according to WAFA, adding that the Prince of Wales praised “the historical Palestinian-British relations and said he looks forward to achieving just peace in the region.”During a speech in Bethlehem Prince Charles explained that it would be his "dearest wish" if everlasting "freedom, justice and equality" could be bestowed upon the Palestinian people in the near future, attaching that he was "struck by the energy, warmth and remarkable generosity" he received by the residents despite the plights they face daily, adding that Bethlehem embodies the "vital co-existence between Christians and Muslims.""No-one arriving in Bethlehem today could miss the signs of continued hardship and the situation you face, and I can only join you, and all communities, in your prayers for a just and lasting peace," Prince Charles said at a speech in Bethlehem, according to the BBC."We must pursue this cause with faith and determination, striving to heal the wounds which have caused such pain."
