First commercial flight from Israel lands in UAE as part of ‘normalisation’ deal

US President Donald Trump’s senior adviser Jared Kushner, national security adviser Robert O’Brien and top Israeli officials were on board El Al Flight 971

In apparently unrelated incidents, two blasts at restaurants in Abu Dhabi and Dubai killed three people earlier in the day

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The Emirati, Israeli and US flags are picture attached to an El Al plane adorned with the word “peace” in Arabic, English and Hebrew, upon its arrival at the Abu Dhabi airport after the first-ever commercial flight from Israel to the UAE. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:21pm, 31 Aug 2020Updated: 11:50pm, 31 Aug 2020

Senior US and Israeli officials landed in the United Arab Emirates on Monday on a historic trip to finalise a pact marking open relations between Israel and the Gulf state, and they told Palestinians it was now time for them to negotiate peace.

White House senior adviser Jared Kushner also said on arrival that Washington could maintain Israel’s military edge while advancing its ties to the UAE, the Arab world’s second largest economy and a regional power.

In apparently unrelated incidents, two blasts at restaurants in Abu Dhabi and Dubai killed three people earlier in the day in what authorities said were the result of gas malfunctions. Local media said the blasts hit KFC and Hardee’s restaurants in Abu Dhabi, which are located on a main road leading to the airport, while a gas cylinder exploded in a Dubai restaurant. The Abu Dhabi government told residents “to avoid spreading rumours” about the blasts, and “use official news sources”.

Announced on August 13, the normalisation deal is the first such accommodation between an Arab country and Israel in more than 20 years and was catalysed largely by shared fears of Iran

Palestinians were dismayed by the UAE’s move, seeing it as a betrayal that would weaken a long-standing pan-Arab position which calls for Israeli withdrawal from occupied territory and acceptance of Palestinian statehood in return for normal relations with Arab countries.