Does the British government now recognise a country called Palestine?

Oh dear. Prince William appears to be under the impression that there’s a country called Palestine.

On his “apolitical” visit to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority, he reportedly told the PA President Mahmoud Abbas today:

“I’m very glad our two countries work so closely together and have had success stories with education and relief work in the past…”

Of course, there is no country called Palestine. Abbas’s strategy of war against Israel is to assert that there is, not just in contradiction of the truth but in flagrant repudiation of the PA’s international legal agreements.

Accordingly, Abbas told the prince:

““Your Royal Highness Prince William, it is my honour to receive you in Palestine for your first visit.”

And now the Daily Telegraph has fallen into line by repeating the lie in its own headline:

“Duke of Cambridge meets President Abbas in first royal visit to Palestine amid promises of peace”.

No blame can accrue to Prince William for this blooper; he is a geopolitical ingenue abroad and all that he says is in accordance with his briefings by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

We know that because the British Ambassador to Israel, David Quarrey, has told us so. Responding to the controversy that developed on publication of Prince William’s itinerary, which situated the Old City of Jerusalem within what the FCO insists on calling “the Occupied Palestinian Territories” in defiance of international law, history and the truth, the ambassador said:

“All the terminology that was used in the program was consistent with years of practice by British governments. It’s consistent with British government policy.”

Does it follow, therefore, that the British government has now taken the side of the Palestinian Arabs against Israel by recognising a country called Palestine, in defiance of truth, reality and internationally binding agreements?

Anyone told Theresa May?