Britain’s Prince William toured sensitive holy sites in disputed east Jerusalem Thursday as he wrapped up a landmark visit during which he tiptoed through the region’s diplomatic minefield. The second in line to the British throne also laid flowers at the grave of his great-grandmother who is buried at the Church of St Magdalene in east Jerusalem. William became the first member of the British royal family to visit the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound. Sacred to both Muslims and Jews, it is the focus of regular flare-ups between Israelis and Palestinians. He walked through the complex, which houses the Al-Aqsa mosque and the iconic golden-topped Dome of the Rock, accompanied by a large Israeli security detail and members of the Jordanian-run religious trust that administers it. Since Israel occupied Arab east Jerusalem in the Six-Day War of 1967, hardline Jewish activists have sought the right to pray inside the mosque compound, sparking fierce Muslim opposition. Jews revere it as the place where they believe the biblical Jewish temples once stood. Both the second Palestinian uprising that erupted in 2000 and a new wave of deadly violence that broke out last year had their roots in Palestinian fears of a change in the longstanding status quo at the complex, which forbids Jewish prayer there. William’s tour was followed by visits to the city’s Jewish and Christian holy places. At the adjacent Western Wall, the holiest place at which Jews are allowed to pray, the prince was accompanied by its rabbi Shmuel… [Read full story]
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