Prince William has begun the first official visit by a British royal to Israel and the Palestinian territories, facing the challenge of navigating deep political and religious divides in a Holy Land once ruled by Britain.
William, a 36-year-old grandson of Queen Elizabeth and second in line to the throne, will see religious sites, honour Holocaust victims and meet Jewish and Arab youths, and Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
A spokesman for the prince, acknowledging the "well-known" and "complex challenges" in the Middle East, said William's tour, like other visits abroad by members of the British royal family, will be non-political.
But tradition and history will mark many of his stops in an area fought over for centuries and once administered by colonial Britain in the final days of its empire.
In Jerusalem, the holy city at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the prince will view its walled Old City from the Mount of Olives during his four-day trip.
Prince William visits the Princess Taghrid Institute for Development and Training in the province of Ajloun, north of Amman, Jordan. Source: AAP
William, who flew into Israel from Jordan, will also visit the Church of St Mary Magdalene and the tomb of his great-grandmother, Princess Alice, who sheltered a Jewish family in Greece during World War 2.
William was not accompanied to the region by his wife, Kate, who gave birth to a son, Louis, in April. The couple has two other children, George, aged four, and Charlotte, two.
The visit comes just after Israel marked its 70th anniversary of independence and amid surges of violence along the Gaza border, including rocket attacks by Palestinian militants and Israeli air raids.
William will stay at Jerusalem's King David Hotel. Once the headquarters of British authorities, it was bombed by Jewish militants in 1946. More than 90 people were killed.
Britain captured Palestine from the Ottoman empire in 1917 during World War One and administered the territory under international mandate until 1948, pulling out a day before Israel declared independence.
The trip is at the behest of the British government. Until now it had been British policy not to make an official royal visit until the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is resolved.
William's five-day tour of the region marks the monarchy's first official visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Source: AAP
