The United Arab Emirates signed an agreement to normalize relations with Israel in September, the first such agreement by an Arab state on the Gulf.
Low-cost airline flydubai launched direct flights to Tel Aviv, the first scheduled service between the two cities, on Thursday after relations between the United Arab Emirates and Israel normalized.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be available for the arrival of the opening flight after his nearly four-hour journey, his spokesman said.
“PM Netanyahu will attend the welcoming ceremony for @flydubai’s first commercial flight to arrive at Ben-Gurion International Airport this morning,” Ofir Gendelman said in a tweet.
“These are the fruits of peace Dear Emirati tourists, welcome to Israel!”
In September the United Arab Emirates signed an agreement brokered by the United States to formalize relations with Israel, the first such agreement by an Arab state on the Gulf.
With economies badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic, the UAE and Israel are hoping for quick dividends from the normalization deal, including an influx of tourists at the start of the winter peak season in Dubai.
“The launch of scheduled flights will contribute to economic development and create further investment opportunities,” said Ghaith al-Ghaith, CEO of flydubai, when the service was announced earlier this month.
The airline of Dubai will fly the route twice a day, and Israeli airlines El Al and Israir are expected to offer their commercial services between cities next month.
Etihad Airways, based in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, has announced that it will start flights to Tel Aviv from March 2021.
The scheduled flights are coming as the UAE has reportedly stopped issuing new visas to citizens of 13 predominantly Muslim countries including Iran, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria and Somalia. This is evident from a document issued by a state industrial park.
The document, which was sent to companies operating in the park and viewed by Reuters news agency, cited an immigration circular that came into force on November 18.
Applications for new employment and visitor visas have been suspended until further notice for non-UAE nationals from countries such as Afghanistan, Libya and Yemen.
‘Stab in the back’
After Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994, the United Arab Emirates were only the third Arab country to normalize relations with Israel.
The two countries have already signed visa-free travel agreements – although this has not yet entered into force – and agreements on investment protection, science and technology.
Since the historic deal, Bahrain and Sudan have followed suit and agreed to forge relationships.
The accords shattered a longstanding Arab consensus that there should be no normalization with Israel until a comprehensive peace deal is reached with the Palestinians.
Palestinian Authority officials have condemned the normalization agreements as “stabbing in the back” of the Arab states.
Several Arab Gulf states have been tacitly building relations with Israel for years on the basis of shared hostility towards Iran, with the US supporting the process.
The regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia has so far refrained from formalizing relations with Israel, but has given the green light for overflights of the Jewish state in an implicit sign of approval.
After President Donald Trump announced the UAE deal in August, El Al flew a delegation of US and Israeli officials – led by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner – to Abu Dhabi in a historic direct service between the two countries.
This was followed by an official visit by a UAE delegation to Tel Aviv and a number of charter flights with business groups.
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