As a traveler who loves the Middle East and prays for peace in the Holy Land, I was elated to see an EL AL 737 land in Abu Dhabi yesterday. The historic first flight marks another milestone in warming diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
Historic EL AL Flight to Abu Dhabi
EL AL flight 971, operated by a Boeing 737-900ER, pushed back from Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport at 11:13AM IDT and landed at Abu Dhabi International Airport just over three hours later at 3:48PM GST. The world “Peace” was written over the cockpit window in Arabic, English, and Hebrew.
El AL put the word “peace” in Hebrew, English and Arabic on the plane for the first commercial flight from Israel to the UAE, set to depart tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/eUf6d3UXHb
— Lahav Harkov (@LahavHarkov) August 30, 2020
Onboard were dignitaries from the United States and Israel, including U.S. National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien and Jared Kushner, Director of the Office of American Innovation, who sat in the first row of business class and shared this video:
History Made! #BTS Jared and NSA O’Brien on the 1st commercial flight ever between Israel and the United Arab Emirates! 🇮🇱🇦🇪🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/kdAHHtsRCs
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) August 31, 2020
A historic boarding pass to commemorate the flight:
The special boarding pass that El Al made for the historic Israel-UAE flight#LY971#AbrahamAccords pic.twitter.com/nJJ4rYQbYw
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) August 31, 2020
The flight was numbered LY971 because +971 is the country dialing code for the UAE (the return flight will be LY972, Israel’s country code).
The first official flight between #Israel and the UAE is officially listed on the Ben Gurion Airport website!
FYI: the flight from Israel is flight number 971 (🇦🇪 phone country code); the returning flight is 972 (🇮🇱 phone country code)! https://t.co/R0wxvkQdAx
— Embassy of Israel (@IsraelinUSA) August 28, 2020
The onboard menu listed several appetizing meal selections:
Btw, this was the menu #UAEIsrael 🇮🇱✈️🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/NKsBdCNEv2
— Noa Landau נעה לנדאו (@noa_landau) August 31, 2020
The Israeli and U.S. delegations will meet this week their UAE counterparts in Abu Dhabi to discuss the parameters of the new peace deal, which will include formal recognition of Israel and the establishment of embassies in respective countries.
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Over the years, sometimes on many occasions, my travels have taken me to Israel, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights. To Egypt and Jordan and Lebanon. To Kuwait and Qatar and Bahrain. To Oman and the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Even to Iraq and Iran.
Such a lovely part of the world with wonderful, gracious, and kind people. Of course I am generalizing, but the hospitality in the Middle East is unparalleled. And yet the Holy Land remains the epicenter of division and strife. On all sides you have imperfect people seeking dignity and trying to provide a better life for their loved ones. I’m not just talking about the Arab-Israeli conflict, but about the Sunni-Shia strain, the Arab Spring, and the civil wars of Syria and Yemen. And there are sinister actors too.
Pictures of an EL AL flight crossing Saudi airspace and landing in a country that still does not print Israel on maps brought a smile to my face.
I realize the Palestinians are not happy about this. I realize they are still walled in the West Bank or Gaza Strip and see social, political, and economic apartheid exacerbated by this deal, even with the Israeli pledge to suspend new settlement development.
But this is good news. And the fact that EL AL flew over Saudi Arabia is perhaps even bigger news. Might the Kingdom be the next to recognize the state of Israel?
There’s so much pain and suffering in the world today and we live in an unprecedented period of uncertainty. That makes this milestone all the more historic.
I’m not cutting the wedding cake yet…we’ve seen peace agreements crash and burn in the past. Frankly, I’ve long stopped being an optimist when it comes to humanity. But the economic and anthropological ties that will soon be possible between “enemies” will melt both visible and invisible walls of division. In doing so, I hope these newfound links will usher in an era of peace and understanding that will lead to more liberty and justice for all in the region.
Love him or hate him, Trump does not seem to be getting sufficient credit for this momentous agreement. What an extraordinary event.
I really like the flight numbers idea.
@Airfarer: +1 Could not agree more. Trump did amazing things in terms of diplomacy during his term but media doesn’t like to tell that.
What a load of horse pucky. Please someone enlighten my how this new accord helps anyone in Israel or the UAE? Or anyone else in the Mideast for that matter? Two countries who are in this for their economic interest only, and have never been in conflict, never declared war on each other, never had armies engaged against each other, and are 1,200 miles from each other?
So let’s talk about the real tragedy that this accord does nothing to repair, the Palestinians and the Israeli populace who bear the brunt of the repercussions of the inability of live peacefully.
This is a Benjamin Netanyahu, Jared Kushner, Donald Trump, and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum giving each other a pat on the back so that (in the case of Bibi and Trump), have a shot at a Nobel Peace price before going to jail.
If you believe this is all about forgiveness and benevolence, I have some lovely waterfront property for sale along the Jordan River. Tell me how the peace accords with Egypt and Jordan have helped the Palestinians in anyway? How about Turkey?
Engagement and commerce is one avenue to peace. Will other nations follow? And will that normalization of relations put pressure on Israel and the PA to find a more permanent solution? Generally, we should applaud when countries who don’t officially talk to one another start talking to one another…
A-fcukin’-men.
Israel and The UAE have had ties going back to the mid 2000s. Their mutual hatred of Iran is what made them go public more than anything else.
So what’s the problem?
It throws the Palestinians under the bus? I mean, its not like Israel and The UAE are at war, so celebrating this as a “peace” achievement is laughable.
I strongly disagree. I mentioned the plight of the Palestinians in this post and during my Israel trip report earlier this year. But holding off diplomatic recognition is like closing your eyes, putting your fingers in your ears, and shouting “la la la”. It doesn’t advance any sort of lasting peace and is simply not constructive as a tool of diplomacy. Israel has a right to exist. Israel should be recognized by its neighbors. It is only under that cloak of accountability and carrot/stick economic development that the situation will improve for the residents of West Bank and Gaza. Israel can change through incentivization to depart from the status quo, not by neighbors ignoring it or pretending it does not exist. If for nothing else, you should celebrate that Israel has agreed to at least temporarily suspend the construction of further settlements in the West Bank.
This is very cool. Credit to whom credit is due.
No pork option for lunch?
Let’s see how long it lasts. We all want peace and equitable, sustainable solutions. This smacks of short-termism, hastily thrown together by rogues and vagabonds in order to secure favourable press.
A tree fries from a little seed I’ll say no more about your ignorence.
Fries?
Ah good, no masks in the picture. Morons
Really it is a welcome development ,I pray for lasting peace between the two country.