UK’s Prince William visits East Jerusalem holy sites

JERUSALEM (AA) - Prince William, the duke of Cambridge and second in line to the British throne, wrapped up a visit to the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Thursday with a tour of religious sites in occupied East Jerusalem.

On Thursday morning, the prince visited the historic Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem’s Old City.

He then visited the Church of St. Mary Magdalene near the Garden of Gethsemane, which contains the gravesite of his great-grandmother, Princess Alice.

From there, William headed to the iconic Al-Aqsa Mosque, where he took a tour of the mosque compound accompanied by officials of Jerusalem’s Jordan-run Authority for Islamic Endowments.

After that, he visited the Al-Buraq Wall (referred to by Jews as the “Western Wall”), where he prayed before moving on to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

Later Thursday, William is scheduled to return to London, concluding a three-day regional tour that also took him to Jordan and Israel.

On Wednesday, William met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.

While in the West Bank, the prince also visited the Jalazoun refugee camp north of Ramallah.

William’s trip was the first-ever state visit to Palestine-Israel by a member of the British royal family.