TEL AVIV (ISRAEL) – High ranking US and Israeli officials landed in the United Arab Emirates on Monday as part of an epoch-making visit to finalise an agreement to normalise ties between the Emirates and Israel.
White House senior adviser and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner said after arriving in the UAE that the US could ensure Israel’s military edge while forging ties with the UAE, which is the second largest economy in the Arab world and a regional power.
History was charted when the Israeli commercial flight flew over Saudi Arabian air space to Abu Dhabi where the discussions will take place.
“That’s what peace for peace looks like,” Netanyahu said in a Twitter message, describing a deal with an Arab country that does not come with the clause to hand over land occupied by Israel in 1967.
The deal announced on Aug. 13 is the first between an Arab country and Israel in two decades.
Palestinians were startled with the new agreement as they fear that it would upset the pan-Arab policy that demands Israeli withdrawal from occupied land and accept Palestinian statehood.
US national security adviser Robert O’Brien is also part of the delegation and the Israeli team is led by O’Brien’s counterpart, Meir Ben-Shabbat. Israel and the United Arab Emirates will discuss economic, scientific, trade and cultural cooperation during the visit. Direct flights between the two countries will also be on the agenda, said an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman.
“I prayed yesterday at the (Western) Wall that Muslims and Arabs throughout the world will be watching this flight, recognising that we are all children of God, and that the future does not have to be pre-determined by the past,” Kushner said while addressing the media at Tel Aviv.
Kushner also said Palestinians should not be “stuck in the past”. “They have to come to the table. Peace will be ready for them, an opportunity will be ready for them as soon as they are ready to embrace it,” he added.
Israeli officials are hopeful that the two-day visit will finalise a date for the signing ceremony in Washington as early as September between Netanyahu and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.
Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field.