[ad_1]
Today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that the first commercial flight between Israel and the United Arab Emirates will not be the last, indicating that flights between the two countries through Saudi airspace will continue.
“Now there is another breakthrough,” Netanyahu said in a statement, after Saudi Arabia announced that it would allow all flights to and from the United Arab Emirates to cross its airspace. He noted that “Israeli planes and those coming from all the countries of the world will be able to fly directly from Israel to Abu Dhabi and Dubai and vice versa”, without announcing the date of implementation of this. On August 13, he announced an agreement to normalize relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates under the patronage of the United States, and last week the United Arab Emirates announced the abolition of the boycott of Israel’s law.
The UAE is considered the first Gulf country and the third Arab country to normalize its relations with Israel after Egypt (1979) and Jordan (1994).
And the Saudi Arabia Civil Aviation Authority announced, in a tweet, “The approval of the Emirates’ request to allow passage of the Kingdom’s airspace for flights arriving and departing from it to all countries.” This is the first official Saudi confirmation that planes from all countries, including Israel, can cross its airspace to and from the United Arab Emirates, after the adviser and son-in-law of the president of the United States, Jared Kushner, revealed this Monday. in Abu Dhabi upon arrival with an Israeli delegation on the first such visit to a Gulf state.
Saudi Arabia had announced that it would not follow the example of the United Arab Emirates in normalizing relations with Israel, without reaching a solution regarding the Palestinian problem. The Palestinian leadership welcomed the Saudi position, while denouncing the agreement to normalize relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates as a “stab in the back” and a “betrayal of Jerusalem.” Riyadh was quick to underline on Wednesday that opening the skies to Israeli planes will not change the “firm and established positions towards the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people” based on the Arab Peace Initiative, which stipulates that there will be no normalization before the establishment of a state. independent Palestinian.
According to a joint statement by the US-Israeli delegation and Emirati officials, “prospects for bilateral cooperation” were discussed in the fields of “investment, finance, health, civil space program, civil aviation, foreign policy and diplomatic affairs, tourism and culture.” . In the statement, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and the United States called on Palestinian leaders to reconnect with their Israeli counterparts in discussions aimed at achieving peace.
[ad_2]
