Prince William to visit occupied Palestinian territories

Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, is planning to visit the occupied Palestinian territories in the summer in the first official visit from a member of Britain's royal family since the establishment of the state of Israel.

The prince's trip wil also take in Israel and Jordan, Kensington Palace has announced.

"The visit is at the request of Her Majesty's Government and has been welcomed by the Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian authorities," the palace said in a statement on Twitter on Thursday morning.

The prince's great-grandmother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, is buried at the convent of St Mary Magdalene on Jerusalem's Mount of Olives.

The visit has only just been announced, but has already sparked controversy, with supporters of Israel objecting to the palace's use of the term "occupied Palestinian territories" - despite being an official UN designation, and the fact that the walls, the watchtowers, the restrictions on movement, the demolition of family homes, the uprooting of farmland and the dominance of water and agricultural resoucres all demonstrate that the Palestinian territories are clearly occupied by a foreign military.

Others have welcomed the news.

This last point has been echoed by several others.

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