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Israel’s first direct commercial flight to the United Arab Emirates landed in Abu Dhabi, with an American-Israeli delegation on board, after the two countries reached an agreement to normalize ties.
Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Donald Trump and a White House adviser, was aboard the Israeli national airline El Al Flight 971 as part of the delegation meeting with UAE officials.
The plane flew over Saudi Arabian airspace, according to the specialized website FlightRadar24, the first time El Al has publicly flown over the kingdom.
Kushner was one of President Trump’s top advisers, who joined Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s advisers to fly to the United Arab Emirates today to put the final touches on a pact establishing open relations between the Gulf power. and Israel.
Even before the discussions began in Abu Dhabi, delegates made aviation history by bringing an Israeli commercial aircraft, the word “peace” printed in Arabic, English and Hebrew on a window in the cabin of the El Al Boeing 737, directly from Tel Aviv to the United Arab Emirates. capital over Saudi territory.
“This is peace for peace’s sake,” Netanyahu tweeted, praising what he called a historic flight and describing a formal ties agreement with an Arab state that does not involve handing over land Israel captured in a 1967 war.
Announced on August 13, the ‘normalization’ agreement is the first such agreement between an Arab country and Israel in more than 20 years and was catalyzed in large part by shared fears towards Iran.
The Palestinians were dismayed by the UAE’s move, worried that it would weaken a long-standing pan-Arab position calling for Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territory and acceptance of the Palestinian state in exchange for normal relations with Arab countries.
Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, Kushner, and national security adviser Robert O’Brien lead the US delegation.
The Trump administration has tried to persuade other Sunni Arab countries concerned about Iran to engage with Israel. The most powerful of them, Saudi Arabia, has signaled that it is not ready.
But in what could presage a more relaxed stance on the part of Riyadh, El Al’s plane today will be able to fly over Saudi territory to reduce flight time.
In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, said Kushner and his team were “fighting to convince as many Arab and Muslim leaders as possible” to give Trump an electoral boost. .
“They will be a prop against the backdrop of a pointless spectacle for a ridiculous deal that will not bring peace to the region,” he said.
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