Israel preparing for direct flights to UAE
NETANYAHU: WE WILL IMPORT FROM UAE FREE ZONES
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that the country is preparing for direct flights, over Saudi Arabia, to the UAE as part of its peace accord with the UAE.
Netanyahu, briefed at Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion airport on plans for expanding flight activity curtailed by the coronavirus pandemic, gave no time frame for the opening of an air link with the UAE.
“We are currently working on enabling direct flights, over Saudi Arabia, between Tel Aviv and Dubai and Abu Dhabi,” Netanyahu told reporters, estimating flight time at “about three hours, just like to Rome”.
Saudi Arabia does not recognise Israel and its air space is closed to Israeli airliners. But in what was seen in Israel as a harbinger of warmer relations with Riyadh, Air India was allowed in 2018 to begin flying over Saudi territory on its New Delhi-Tel Aviv route.
Tremendous scope for bilateral tourism
Netanyahu said he saw “tremendous scope for bilateral tourism and gigantic scope for investment” with the UAE.
Later in an interview with Sky News Arabia, Netanyahu said Israel will import from free zones in the UAE. “We know that we will get good prices,” he said. Israel and the UAE announced on Thursday a US-brokered peace accord.
Kushner urges Riyadh to normalise ties with Israel
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner said it would be in Saudi Arabia’s interest to normalise ties with Israel. It would ultimately help the Palestinians, Kushner said.
“It would be very good for Saudi business, it would very good for Saudi’s defence, and, quite frankly, I think it would also help the Palestinian people,” Kushner said. Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, had repeatedly expressed their desire for an independent Palestinian state with economic opportunities, he said. “What they basically said is that they ... want to see the Palestinian people have a state and economic opportunities,” said Kushner.
Al Aqsa mosque opening will help reduce tensions
Kushner also said the opening of Islam’s third-holiest site, Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, for all Muslims as part of the UAE-Israel peace accord will help reduce tensions between Israel and the Muslim world. “Israelis are very excited that they can get cheaper flights now by flying through Dubai, and I know a lot of Muslims are excited that they can now fly through Dubai to Tel Aviv to go and visit the Al Aqsa Mosque.”
Palestinian Business Council confident of UAE’s support
In Abu Dhabi, the Palestinian Business Council said that since the era of the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the UAE has always been a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause. In an official statement to WAM, the council stressed its belief that the UAE will never give away the legitimate rights of Palestinians and will support them in establishing an independent state with its capital in Jerusalem.