The “Peace Plane” Makes Historic Flight
This week, a date was proposed for the formal ceremony concertizing the Israel - United Arab Emirates peace deal. The ceremony will hopefully take place on Sunday, September 13th, 2020, the 27th anniversary of the Oslo Accords signing, and several Arab leaders have promised to be in attendance, sources say. In anticipation of that event, Israelis and Americans finally got to see the fruits of their labor after the recent peace deal, with the first direct flight from Israel to Abu Dhabi, nicknamed the "Peace Plane" by US officials. But, that wasn’t the only thing historic about the flight in the Middle East.
Before the plane took off, Captain Tal Becker announced on the loudspeaker that “This flight records two significant events in the history of the State of Israel and in the region heralding another step towards regional peace — for the very first time an Israeli-registered aircraft will overfly Saudi Arabia and after a nonstop flight from Israel, land in the United Arab Emirates”. This, of course, comes after Saudi Arabia announced that it would give flights between the UAE and Israel full access to their airspace, which Prime Minister Netanyahu called a “huge breakthrough” that will cut the trip’s length by four hours and help the Israeli economy and reduce airfares.
As of now, the UAE is still the only Arab country to advance peace talks with Israel. Despite Saudi Arabia’s incredible show of support for the peace agreement, it has stood by past statements that discussions of peace would not come before talks about a Palestinian state. On Twitter, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan stated that the opening of Saudi airspace does not change “the Kingdom’s firm and established positions toward the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people” and added that Riyadh, the Saudi Arabian capital, “appreciates all efforts aimed at achieving a just and lasting peace in accordance with the Arab Peace Initiative.” To that end, US Advisor Jared Kushner flew to both Riyadh and Manama to advocate for normalization, and also discuss resuming negotiations between the Palestinian and Israeli sides to achieve a just and lasting peace agreement. Additionally, Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi called Prime Minister Netanyahu on Wednesday and shared his support for the peace deal, stating that he believed it was “a step in the direction of peace”.