Prince William arrives in Israel for historic royal visit

News

Prince William arrives in Israel for historic royal visit

2018-06-26 12:14 Last Updated At：12:14

Prince William arrived in Israel on Monday for the first-ever official visit of a member of the British royal family to the tumultuous region London once ruled.

Arriving from neighboring Jordan, the Duke of Cambridge landed at Israel's Ben-Gurion International Airport and then departed to Jerusalem, where he will stay at the elegant King David Hotel, site of the former administrative headquarters of the British mandate.

Click to Gallery

Prince William arrived in Israel on Monday for the first-ever official visit of a member of the British royal family to the tumultuous region London once ruled.

Britain's Prince William visits a community center, Dar Niemeh, in the province of Ajloun, north of the Jordanian capital Amman, Monday, June 25, 2018. The visit came on the second day of a five-day tour that also takes William to Israel and the Palestinian territories. It's a high-profile foreign trip for William, second in line to the throne, and comes at a time of widening rifts between Israelis and Palestinians. (Ahmad Abdo/Pool photo via AP)

Three decades of British rule between the two world wars helped establish some of the fault lines of today's Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Britain's withdrawal in 1948 led to the eventual establishment of Israel and Jordan.

Britain's Prince William drinks tea in a traditional Bedouin-style tent during a visit to a community center, Dar Niemeh, in the province of Ajloun, north of the Jordanian capital Amman, Monday, June 25, 2018. The visit came on the second day of a five-day tour that also takes William to Israel and the Palestinian territories. It's a high-profile foreign trip for William, second in line to the throne, and comes at a time of widening rifts between Israelis and Palestinians. (Ahmad Abdo/Pool photo via AP)

On Tuesday he will visit Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, where he will meet two survivors who escaped Nazi Germany for the safety of Britain. The memorial has recognized Prince William's great-grandmother, Princess Alice, as Righteous Among the Nations for her role in rescuing Jews during the Holocaust.

Britain's Prince William arrives on a Royal Air Force plane at the Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, June 25, 2018. William has arrived in Israel for the first-ever official visit by a member of the British royal family. His arrival Monday ends the monarchy's mostly hands-off approach to one of the world's most sensitive regions. For the 36-year-old William, second in line to the throne, it marks a high-profile visit that could brandish his international credentials. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

"It is the right moment we think for a visit to really shine a light on that relationship and show how strong the contemporary relationship is between the two countries," Ambassador David Quarrey told The Associated Press. "The Duke is very clear that he wants to come and get under the skin of the country, he wants to get a feel for Israel. He wants to get a flavor of the country."

Britain's Prince William arrives on a Royal Air Force plane at the Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, June 25, 2018. William has arrived in Israel for the first-ever official visit by a member of the British royal family. His arrival Monday ends the monarchy's mostly hands-off approach to one of the world's most sensitive regions. For the 36-year-old William, second in line to the throne, it marks a high-profile visit that could brandish his international credentials. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

The royal itinerary managed to anger Israeli politicians by mentioning Jerusalem as being part of "the Occupied Palestinian Territories." Jerusalem Affairs Minister Zeev Elkin — who is running for mayor of the city in this year's elections — called the reference a "distortion" that cannot "change reality."

Britain's Prince William arrives on a Royal Air Force plane at the Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, June 25, 2018. William has arrived in Israel for the first-ever official visit by a member of the British royal family. His arrival Monday ends the monarchy's mostly hands-off approach to one of the world's most sensitive regions. For the 36-year-old William, second in line to the throne, it marks a high-profile visit that could brandish his international credentials. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

The prince arrived from Jordan, where he kicked off his five-day Middle East tour by meeting young scientists, refugees and political leaders. He was hosted by Crown Prince Hussein, 23, a member of the Hashemite dynasty Britain helped install in then-Transjordan almost a century ago. The pair later watched the England-Panama World Cup match together.

More Images

Prince William arrived in Israel on Monday for the first-ever official visit of a member of the British royal family to the tumultuous region London once ruled.

Britain's Prince William visits a community center, Dar Niemeh, in the province of Ajloun, north of the Jordanian capital Amman, Monday, June 25, 2018. The visit came on the second day of a five-day tour that also takes William to Israel and the Palestinian territories. It's a high-profile foreign trip for William, second in line to the throne, and comes at a time of widening rifts between Israelis and Palestinians. (Ahmad Abdo/Pool photo via AP)

Three decades of British rule between the two world wars helped establish some of the fault lines of today's Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Britain's withdrawal in 1948 led to the eventual establishment of Israel and Jordan.

Britain's Prince William drinks tea in a traditional Bedouin-style tent during a visit to a community center, Dar Niemeh, in the province of Ajloun, north of the Jordanian capital Amman, Monday, June 25, 2018. The visit came on the second day of a five-day tour that also takes William to Israel and the Palestinian territories. It's a high-profile foreign trip for William, second in line to the throne, and comes at a time of widening rifts between Israelis and Palestinians. (Ahmad Abdo/Pool photo via AP)

On Tuesday he will visit Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, where he will meet two survivors who escaped Nazi Germany for the safety of Britain. The memorial has recognized Prince William's great-grandmother, Princess Alice, as Righteous Among the Nations for her role in rescuing Jews during the Holocaust.

Britain's Prince William arrives on a Royal Air Force plane at the Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, June 25, 2018. William has arrived in Israel for the first-ever official visit by a member of the British royal family. His arrival Monday ends the monarchy's mostly hands-off approach to one of the world's most sensitive regions. For the 36-year-old William, second in line to the throne, it marks a high-profile visit that could brandish his international credentials. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

"It is the right moment we think for a visit to really shine a light on that relationship and show how strong the contemporary relationship is between the two countries," Ambassador David Quarrey told The Associated Press. "The Duke is very clear that he wants to come and get under the skin of the country, he wants to get a feel for Israel. He wants to get a flavor of the country."

Britain's Prince William arrives on a Royal Air Force plane at the Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, June 25, 2018. William has arrived in Israel for the first-ever official visit by a member of the British royal family. His arrival Monday ends the monarchy's mostly hands-off approach to one of the world's most sensitive regions. For the 36-year-old William, second in line to the throne, it marks a high-profile visit that could brandish his international credentials. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

The royal itinerary managed to anger Israeli politicians by mentioning Jerusalem as being part of "the Occupied Palestinian Territories." Jerusalem Affairs Minister Zeev Elkin — who is running for mayor of the city in this year's elections — called the reference a "distortion" that cannot "change reality."

Britain's Prince William arrives on a Royal Air Force plane at the Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, June 25, 2018. William has arrived in Israel for the first-ever official visit by a member of the British royal family. His arrival Monday ends the monarchy's mostly hands-off approach to one of the world's most sensitive regions. For the 36-year-old William, second in line to the throne, it marks a high-profile visit that could brandish his international credentials. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

The prince arrived from Jordan, where he kicked off his five-day Middle East tour by meeting young scientists, refugees and political leaders. He was hosted by Crown Prince Hussein, 23, a member of the Hashemite dynasty Britain helped install in then-Transjordan almost a century ago. The pair later watched the England-Panama World Cup match together.

Three decades of British rule between the two world wars helped establish some of the fault lines of today's Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Britain's withdrawal in 1948 led to the eventual establishment of Israel and Jordan.

Britain has since taken a back seat to the United States in mediating peace efforts, and the royal family has mostly steered clear of the region's toxic politics.

For the 36-year-old William, second in line to the throne, it marks a high-profile visit that could burnish his international credentials.

Though the trip is being billed as non-political, and places a special emphasis on technology and joint Israeli-Arab projects, William will also be meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, and visiting landmark Jerusalem sites at the heart of the century-old conflict.

On Tuesday he will visit Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, where he will meet two survivors who escaped Nazi Germany for the safety of Britain. The memorial has recognized Prince William's great-grandmother, Princess Alice, as Righteous Among the Nations for her role in rescuing Jews during the Holocaust.

In a 1994 visit to Yad Vashem, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, planted a tree there in his mother's honor. Princess Alice hid three members of the Cohen family in her palace in Athens during the Nazi occupation of Greece in World War II. Thanks to her, the Cohen family survived and today lives in France. The princess died in 1969, and in 1988 her remains were brought to Jerusalem.

Later, the prince will meet Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before heading to coastal Tel Aviv to attend a football game of young Jewish and Arab players. He'll also meet the mayor of Tel Aviv and attend a reception the British ambassador is holding in his honor.

"It is the right moment we think for a visit to really shine a light on that relationship and show how strong the contemporary relationship is between the two countries," Ambassador David Quarrey told The Associated Press. "The Duke is very clear that he wants to come and get under the skin of the country, he wants to get a feel for Israel. He wants to get a flavor of the country."

Later in the week, he'll be travelling to the West Bank, where he will meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah before wrapping up the trip in east Jerusalem to visit his great-grandmother's gravesite.

The royal itinerary managed to anger Israeli politicians by mentioning Jerusalem as being part of "the Occupied Palestinian Territories." Jerusalem Affairs Minister Zeev Elkin — who is running for mayor of the city in this year's elections — called the reference a "distortion" that cannot "change reality."

Israel captured east Jerusalem from Jordan in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it in a move not internationally recognized. Israel considers the city, home to holy sites sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, as an inseparable part of its capital. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as their future capital.

Ambassador Quarrey insisted the wording merely reflected decades of terminology used by British governments.

"It is important to emphasize that the Duke is not a political figure, this is not a political visit," he said.

The prince arrived from Jordan, where he kicked off his five-day Middle East tour by meeting young scientists, refugees and political leaders. He was hosted by Crown Prince Hussein, 23, a member of the Hashemite dynasty Britain helped install in then-Transjordan almost a century ago. The pair later watched the England-Panama World Cup match together.

In Jordan, the prince attended a reception marking the birthday of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, and toured the ruins of the Roman city of Jerash, a major tourist attraction his wife had visited as a child when she and her family lived in Jordan.

Some campuses call in police to break up pro-Palestinian demonstrations, while others wait it out

2024-04-26 03:07 Last Updated At：03:10

BOSTON (AP) — Some U.S. universities called in police to break up demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war, resulting in ugly scuffles and dozens of arrests, while others appeared content to wait out student protests Thursday, as the final days of the semester ticked down and graduation ceremonies loomed.

At Emerson College in Boston, 108 people were arrested overnight at an alleyway encampment. Another 93 people were arrested during a Wednesday night protest at the University of Southern California. And new encampments and protests continued to pop up at campuses across the country.

Although many students will soon leave for the summer break, school officials worry that any ongoing protests could disrupt May commencement ceremonies. Students protesting the war are demanding schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies enabling the conflict. Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into antisemitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus.

At Emerson, video shows police first warning students in the alleyway to leave. Students link arms to resist officers, who move forcefully through the crowd and throw some protesters to the ground.

“As the night progressed, it got tenser and tenser. There were just more cops on all sides. It felt like we were being slowly pushed in and crushed,” said Ocean Muir, a sophomore.

“For me, the scariest moment was holding these umbrellas out in case we were tear-gassed, and hearing them come, and hearing their boots on the ground, just pounding into the ground louder than we could chant, and not being able to see a single person,” she said.

Muir said police lifted her by her arms and legs and carried her away. Along with other students, Muir was charged Thursday with trespassing and disorderly conduct.

Emerson College leaders had earlier warned students that the alley has a public right-of-way and city authorities had threatened to take action if the protesters didn’t leave. Emerson canceled classes Thursday, and Boston police said four officers suffered injuries that were not life-threatening during the confrontation.

At USC, tensions were already high after the university canceled a planned commencement speech by the school’s pro-Palestinian valedictorian, citing safety concerns. After scuffles with police early Wednesday, a few dozen demonstrators standing in a circle with locked arms were detained one by one later in the evening.

Officers encircled the dwindling group sitting in defiance of an earlier warning to disperse or be arrested. Beyond the police line, hundreds of onlookers watched as helicopters buzzed overhead. The school closed the campus. One person was arrested on allegations of assault with a deadly weapon, the Los Angeles Police Department said, although it didn’t immediately provide details about the incident.

Earlier Wednesday, officers at the University of Texas at Austin aggressively detained dozens of protesters. Hundreds of local and state police — including some on horseback and holding batons — bulldozed into protesters, at one point sending some tumbling into the street. In all, 57 people were jailed and charged with criminal trespass, according to a spokeswoman for the Travis County Sheriff’s Office.

Dane Urquhart, a third-year Texas student, called the police presence and arrests an “overreaction," adding that the protest would have remained peaceful if the officers hadn't turned out in force. In a statement, the university's president, Jay Hartzell, said: “Our rules matter, and they will be enforced. Our university will not be occupied."

North of USC, protesters at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, remained barricaded inside a building for a third day. The school shut down campus through the weekend and made classes virtual.

At Emory University in Atlanta, local and state police swept in to dismantle a camp, although the university said the protesters weren't students but rather outside activists. Some officers carried semiautomatic weapons, and video shows officers using a stun gun on one protester who they had pinned to the ground. At least 17 people were detained, handcuffed with zip ties and loaded into a police transport van.

Protesters at Emory chanted slogans supporting Palestinians and opposing a public safety training center being built in Atlanta. The two movements are closely entwined in Atlanta, where there has been years of “Stop Cop City” activism that has included attacks on property.

But many colleges, including Harvard University in Massachusetts, were choosing not to take immediate action against protesters who had set up tents, even though they were openly defying campus rules. And some colleges were making new rules, like Northwestern University, which hastily changed its student code of conduct Thursday morning to bar tents on its suburban Chicago campus.

The current wave of protests was inspired by events at Columbia University in New York, where police cleared an encampment and arrested more than 100 people last week, only for students to defiantly put up tents again, in an area where many are set to graduate in front of families in a few weeks. Columbia has said it plans to continue negotiations with protesters through early Friday.

Perry reported from Meredith, New Hampshire. Contributing to this report were Associated Press journalists in various locations including Kathy McCormack, Jim Vertuno, Acacia Coronado, Sudhin Thanawala, Mike Stewart and Sophia Tareen.

Prince William arrives in Israel for historic royal visit

News

Prince William arrives in Israel for historic royal visit

Prince William arrived in Israel on Monday for the first-ever official visit of a member of the British royal family to the tumultuous region London once ruled.

Three decades of British rule between the two world wars helped establish some of the fault lines of today's Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Britain's withdrawal in 1948 led to the eventual establishment of Israel and Jordan.

Prince William arrived in Israel on Monday for the first-ever official visit of a member of the British royal family to the tumultuous region London once ruled.

Three decades of British rule between the two world wars helped establish some of the fault lines of today's Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Britain's withdrawal in 1948 led to the eventual establishment of Israel and Jordan.

Next Article

Some campuses call in police to break up pro-Palestinian demonstrations, while others wait it out

Chef José Andrés says aid workers killed by Israeli airstrikes represented the ‘best of humanity’

The Latest | Israeli strikes in Rafah kill at least 5 as ship comes under attack in the Gulf of Aden

No final decision on withdrawing US troops from Niger and Chad, top official tells AP

Arizona House advances a repeal of the state’s near-total abortion ban to the Senate

Tennessee lawmakers join movement allowing some teachers to take guns into schools

The Latest | Germany will resume working with UN relief agency for Palestinians after a review

Students protesting on campuses across US ask colleges to cut investments supporting Israel