The Duke of Cambridge was clapped and cheered by Palestinians today as he made his first visit to a refugee camp to learn about the lives of Arabs on the West Bank.
After meeting Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, Prince William travelled a few miles away to the streets of the West Bank camp of Jalazone to visit a United Nations school and health clinic.
The camp first opened in wake of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war but today the tents have given way to concrete buildings home built along rough-hewn streets and pavement.
Prince William meets a mother and child during a visit to a United Nations health clinic at the Jalazone refugee camp today
The Duke of Cambridge met families at the camp, north of Ramallah in the West Bank, as part of his tour of the Middle East
The Duke of Cambridge today visited the refugee camp in Palestine as part of his landmark tour of the Middle East
It is home to around 15,000 residents where unemployment is high and violent clashes between Palestinians and a neighbouring Israeli settlement and its forces are a regular occurrence.
Dozens of young men had gathered outside the medical centre and lined the street waiting for the duke to leave and held up smart phones to capture the moment.
When he emerged they clapped and cheered the royal who walked around 50 yards along the street’s rough surface looking around at the shops and homes.
Inside the medical centre William had shown off his maternal instincts when he met a group of Palestinian refugee mothers having their young babies vaccinated.
With his third child Prince Louis around the same age as the babies being cradled by their mothers, the second in line to the thrown could not help cooing over one-month-old Naifa as she was given her jabs.
‘So tiny to have injections’ the royal father said as the doctor performed the procedure and the infant began to cry, adding ‘Is it always in the legs?’
William is escorted by a security detail as he makes his way to a cultural event as part of his official tour in Ramallah today
The Duke of Cambridge is taken around Ramallah as part of his tour of the Middle East which is taking place this week
William goes for a walk around Ramallah as part of his visit to the Middle East on behalf of the Government
The Duke of Cambridge is escorted by a security detail as arrives for the cultural event in Ramallah today
William looks at the statue of the Rashid Haddadin family, who are believed to have founded Ramallah in the 16th century
The Duke of Cambridge is on an official tour of Jordan, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories this week
Her mother Suhair Moussa was questioned by William, through an interpreter, and he looked surprised when he asked if it was her first child and she replied it was her fifth.
A sign banning weapons – a picture of a Kalashnikov assault rifle with red line through it – was on the door of the health centre. Armed Palestinian security men stood on rooftops in the camp, reached via an unpaved road and bordering a large Jewish settlement.
The 36-year-old royal, who earlier made history with his visit to the offices of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, also met girls at a school at the camp run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.
Earlier, Mr Abbas told William – who is the first royal to make an official trip to the Occupied Palestinian Territories on behalf of the Government – he hopes his homeland will be a fully independent state the next time he returns.
A guard keeps watch as Prince William attends the cultural event as part of his official tour of the Middle East today
A handmade commemorative object engraved with the name of Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge is seen in Ramallah today
Prince William makes history as he shakes the hand of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah today
Mr Abbas told Prince William today that he hopes his homeland will be a fully independent state the next time he returns
The two men sat down for talks a day after William was tasked by Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin with taking a ‘message of peace’ in a bid to rekindle relationships with the Arab leader.
Mr Abbas reaffirmed his ‘full commitment to achieving a full and lasting peace based on a two-state solution where the state of Palestine lives side by side with the state of Israel, with both supervising peace and security’.
Mr Abbas’s comments were consistent with his position on the long-term resolution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. William thanked Mr Abbas for his welcome and told of his hopes for ‘peace for the region’.
Until now it had been British policy not to make an official royal visit to Israel and the occupied territories until the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was resolved.