DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Saudi Arabia announced Wednesday that flights to and from the United Arab Emirates “of all countries” will now be able to use their airspace, an alleged israeli flyover authorized after an agreement to normalize the United Arab Emirates. United Arab Emirates relations with Israel.
The indistincts have avoided naming Israel directly, however, the announcement came just days after the kingdom legalized the first Israeli passenger direct advertising flight to use its airspace to succeed in the United Arab Emirates. Any direct flight between the two countries deserves to use Saudi airspace to be commercially viable.
It does not mention the kingdom’s rival, Iran or Qatar, that Saudi Arabia is boycotting lately. Flights between these countries to the United Arab Emirates, in theory, would not want to use the kingdom’s airspace.
The official Saudi news firm said the resolution responds to a “request from the United Arab Emirates” to open routes to and from the country.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud wrote on Twitter that “the company of the kingdom and the position established towards the Palestinian cause and others will not change. “However, even he didn’t call Israel in his tweet.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the announcement in an online video referring to his country.
“For years, I’ve been running to open the skies between Israel and the East,” he said, praising the “formidable advance” that Israeli aircraft can now fly economically and temporarily from Israel to the Emirati capital of Abu Dhabi and skyscrapers. City of Dubai. Avoiding Saudi airspace would mean a cargo of approximately 4 hours for the trip.
Earlier this week, Jared Kushner, son-in-law and senior adviser to US President Jared Kushner, was a senior adviser to the US president. The U. S. , visited a high-level Israeli delegation to the United Arab Emirates on the first direct advertising passenger flight between the two countries, with a Star of David adorned on the jet. Tail. The flight crossed Saudi airspace, at least pointing to acescence to the decisive agreement reached through the United Arab Emirates through the United Arab Emirates to normalize with Israel.
The Saudi announcement comes when Kushner travels through the Middle East to build on the momentum of the agreement with the United Arab Emirates and pressure Arab countries to identify formal ties with Israel, even before he resolves the confrontation with the Palestinians, which has long been seen as a requirement for normalization.
After leaving Abu Dhabi, he traveled to Saudi Arabia to discuss “peace prospects” in the region with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who expressed the kingdom’s willingness to interact with Israel. The kingdom is close to the United Arab Emirates and, along with other pro-Western Arab governments, sees Iran as one of the main threats.
Although Iran’s shared enmity has far surpassed classical Arabic for the Palestinians, Israel remains unpopular in much of the Arab world. Saudi Arabia welcomed the decision of the United Arab Emirates, but was careful to strain that it would only open ties with Israel if peace was reached with the Palestinians.
Palestinians have vehemently opposed normalization because they are one of their few benefits in the moribund peace talks with Israel.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, one of two other Arab states that have full diplomatic relations with Israel, reiterated his country’s agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Israel. that could help identify an independent Palestinian state and “ensure Israel’s security,” according to the Egyptian leader’s office.
Later on Wednesday, Kushner visited the small state of the Gulf of Qatar and met with the country’s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to discuss the Middle East peace process, according to Qatar’s national news firm. The emir called for a “fair agreement on the Palestinian issue” based on the two-state solution, the firm said.
The oil-rich country is America’s best friend, home to thousands of U. S. troops, but a sour regional clash pitts Qatar, which opposes neighboring Gulf states and Egypt, which imposed a four-country embargo in 2017 on Qatar’s for Islamist teams and relations with Iran.
Although it differs from the emerging Arab-Israeli alliance that opposes Iran, Qatar is coordinating with Israel to supply a large amount of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to the impoverished Gaza Strip directed through the militant Islamic organization Hamas.
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Associated Press editors Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to the report.