Saudis open airspace to flights traveling to UAE

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi Arabia announced Wednesday that flights to and from the United Arab Emirates “from all countries” will now be able to use its airspace.

The statement avoided naming Israel directly. However, the announcement was made just days after the kingdom allowed the first direct Israeli commercial passenger flight to use its airspace to reach the UAE. Any direct flight between the two nations would need to use Saudi airspace to be commercially viable.

The statement makes no mention of the kingdom’s rival, Iran, nor Qatar, which Saudi Arabia is currently boycotting. Flights between those countries to the UAE would, in theory, not need to use the kingdom’s airspace.

The official Saudi Press Agency said the move is in response to a “request by the

UAE” to open routes to and from the country.

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud wrote on Twitter that the kingdom’s “firm and established position toward the Palestinian cause and people will not change.” However, he did not name Israel in his tweet.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the announcement in an online video.

“For years, I have been working to open the skies between Israel and the East,” he said, hailing the “tremendous breakthrough” that Israeli planes can now fly cheaply and quickly from Israel to the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi, and skyscraper-studded city of Dubai. Avoiding Saudi airspace would add around four hours to the journey.

Earlier this week, Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, flew with a high-level Israeli delegation to the UAE on the first direct commercial passenger flight between the two countries, a Star of David emblazoned on the jet’s tail. The flight traversed Saudi airspace, signaling at least acquiescence for the breakthrough U.S.-brokered agreement by the United Arab Emirates to normalize relations with Israel.

The Saudi announcement comes as Kushner is traveling the Middle East to build on the momentum of the UAE deal and press other Arab countries to establish formal ties with Israel.

After leaving Abu Dhabi, he headed to Saudi Arabia to discuss “prospects for peace” in the region with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has expressed willingness for the kingdom to engage with Israel. The kingdom is close to the UAE, and, along with other pro-Western Arab governments, sees Iran as a major threat.

Although shared enmity of Iran has largely overtaken traditional Arab support for the

Palestinians, Israel remains unpopular in much of the Arab world.

The Palestinians have opposed the normalization.

Later on Wednesday, Kushner traveled to the tiny Persian Gulf state of Qatar and met with the country’s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to discuss the Mideast peace process, according to Qatar’s state news agency. The emir called for a “just settlement of the Palestinian issue” based on the two-state solution, the agency said.

The oil-rich country is a close U.S. ally, home to thousands of American troops. But a bitter regional dispute pits Qatar against neighboring Gulf states and Egypt, which imposed a four-nation embargo in 2017 over Qatar’s support for Islamist groups and relations with Iran.