Jordanian prince calls for all parties to work for ‘reconciliation and peace’

A Jordanian prince has told Jewish and Christian dignitaries in Cambridge that Israelis and Palestinians “cannot solve their problems on their own”.

HRH Prince Hassan of Jordan called for all parties to work together for “reconciliation and peace in the Holy Land” in a lecture at the Woolf Institute on Thursday, in which both Jewish and Christian perspectives were heard.

Hassan, a veteran diplomat, spoke of the importance of pursuing a vision of a world beyond discrimination, prejudice, intolerance or oppression of any kind, urging all parties to move away from a culture of war to a culture of peace.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Rowan Williams gave the Christian response, while theologian Dr Ed Kessler, who founded the Woolf Institute, gave the Jewish response, saying: “The biggest single contributor to poor relationships alongside a lack of knowledge is a lack of trust.”

Hassan had earlier spoken about the relationship between peoples of the Abrahamic Faiths and cultural affinity, saying: “The Jews and Christians of earlier centuries were our Jews and Christians; of Arab culture.”

He added that it was in Jordanian interests to support Palestinian reconciliation as fundamental to building regional stability, saying: “The engagement of Jordan in any hope of achieving the internationally-recognised solution of a Palestinian state on Palestinian soil thus is now necessary, and equally urgent.”

Honouring his guest, Kessler said: “Prince Hassan has dedicated his life to the assertion of some common values shared by the Abrahamic Faiths and we look forward to working with him and apply these in order to overcome tensions and help reduce conflict in the Levant so we may begin to rebuild a culture of trust and look forward to the future with more optimism than at the present time.”