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Dubai (AFP)
The low-cost airline flydubai launched its first direct flights to Tel Aviv on Thursday, two months after the normalization of relations between the United Arab Emirates and Israel under the auspices of the United States.
A spokesman for Dubai International Airport, one of the world’s largest airports, confirmed to AFP that the plane took off on Thursday morning for its four-hour flight.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be present at Ben Gurion International Airport upon arrival of the plane, as his spokesman Ophir Gendelman announced on Twitter to the Arab media.
In September, the UAE signed a US-sponsored agreement to normalize relations with Israel, the first such step for a Gulf state, followed by Bahrain.
The United Arab Emirates is the third Arab country to sign an agreement to normalize relations with the Hebrew state, and the fourth is Bahrain, after Jordan (1994) and Egypt (1979).
And flydubai announced earlier this month that it would operate two flights a day between Dubai and Tel Aviv.
“The start of scheduled flights will contribute to economic development and create more opportunities for investment and the achievement of our interests,” said Ghaith Al-Ghaith, executive director of the state-owned flydubai, in a statement at the time.
“With the start of services, there will be an option to increase access to the United Arab Emirates, as well as the Indian Ocean, the Far East and Africa, reducing the total flight time by several hours,” he said.
On the other hand, the two Israeli airlines, El Al and Israel Air, will launch commercial flights between the two cities next month.
Etihad Airways, which is based in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, has announced that it will begin its flights to Tel Aviv in March 2021.
– Economic fruits –
The UAE and Israel are looking to reap the fruits of the deal quickly in the tourism, technology and trade sectors, especially as the two countries are experiencing economic difficulties in the context of closures related to the novel Corona virus.
On October 20, the two countries agreed, after a limited number of direct flights aboard commercial jets, to exempt their citizens from travel visas, making the UAE the first Arab country to exclude its citizens from it. procedure for entering the Hebrew state.
This came during a visit to the first official Emirati delegation to Tel Aviv, about a week after the signing of the agreement to establish relations in the White House under the patronage and presence of the President of the United States, Donald Trump.
There has been a rapprochement between the Gulf states and Israel in recent years. However, the two agreements to normalize relations between Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates and Israel violated the Arab consensus, which was a condition for solving the Palestinian problem and Israel’s withdrawal from all occupied lands in 1967 prior to the signing of a peace agreement.
But Saudi Arabia, which has so far refused to officially normalize its relations with Israel, has given its consent to allow all planes departing and heading to the United Arab Emirates to cross its airspace, including Israeli flights.
After US President Donald Trump announced the deal between the UAE and Israel in August, the Israeli company El Al transported a delegation of US and Israeli officials to Abu Dhabi aboard the first commercial flight between the two. countries.
After that, an Emirati delegation paid an official visit to Tel Aviv last month and also organized a series of trips with businessmen.
© 2020 AFP
