For the first time in Israel's history, a member of the British royal family will make an official visit to the country.
Prince William, the second in line to the British throne, will arrive in Israel this summer as part of a regional tour, months after Israel marks 70 years since the end of the British mandate and its independence.
"The Duke of Cambridge will visit Israel, Jordan and the Occupied Palestinian Territories in the summer," Kensington Palace announced on its official Twitter account.
A spokesman confirmed that "the visit is at the request of Her Majesty's Government and has been welcomed by the Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian authorities."
The statements did not indicate whether the prince's wife, Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, will accompany him.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the announcement.
In a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office, Netanyahu called it a "historic visit and a first."
He promised that "the prince will receive a warm welcome" and added that he instructed the Israeli Foreign Ministry's director general to oversee the preparations "to ensure that the visit is successful."
The British Foreign Office has traditionally advised the royal family against visits to Israel, due to the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict. Queen Elizabeth's son and the heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, visited Israel for the funerals of slain Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 and former President Shimon Peres in 2016, but those visits were billed as private ones.
Last year the British tabloid The Sun reported that a planned official visit by Prince Charles was canceled due to pressure from the Foreign Office.
"Prince Charles was set to travel to Israel to honor thousands of British war dead at the centenary of the World War I Palestine Campaign and the historic Balfour Declaration [in which the British government voiced support for a Jewish national home in what became Israel]," The Sun reported.
But the trip, which was never officially announced by either side, did not go ahead because the government wanted "to avoid upsetting Arab nations in the region who regularly host U.K. royals."
