Prince Charles Calls for "Lasting Peace" During a Speech in Bethlehem
SOURCE: TOWN & COUNTRY
BY: CAROLINE HALLEMANN
Members of the British royal family are tasked with remaining apolitical, but exactly where that line in the sand is drawn is more than a little ambiguous.
The Queen’s relatives regularly support causes and campaign on issues that many would deem political: climate change, the plight of refugees, and access to mental healthcare, to name just a few.
Today, Prince Charles has once again pushed that boundary with a speech supporting Palestinians, given in Bethlehem.
While on his historic first visit to the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the Prince of Wales said that it is his “dearest wish that the future will bring freedom, justice and equality to all Palestinians.”
“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,” he said.
“We must pursue this cause with faith and determination, striving to heal the wounds which have caused such pain.”
During his time in Bethlehem, Prince Charles visited both the Mosque of Omar, and the Church of the Nativity, which was built on the site where Jesus is said to have been born.
Per the BBC, he said that Bethlehem “embodied the ‘vital co-existence between Christians and Muslims.'”
Over the course of his two-day trip to the region, Prince Charles made an appearance at the World Holocaust Forum and visited with British Holocaust survivors, who had traveled to Israel. And earlier today, he met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
He is also expected to see the grave of his grandmother, Princess Alice, who is buried in Jerusalem.
Previously, the first official visit by a British royal to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories was by Prince William in June of 2018.