First commercial flight between Israel and UAE lands in Abu Dhabi, marking 'normalisation deal'

The first commercial flight between Israel and the UAE landed in Abu Dhabi on Monday afternoon, marking an important moment in the controversial normalisation agreement between the two countries.

The El Al flight - emblazoned with the word "peace" in Arabic, Hebrew and English - took off from Tel Aviv Monday morning and passed through Saudi airspace - another first for an Israeli carrier.

It carried leading Israeli security, aviation and business officials along with a US delegation led by senior White House advisor and President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Pilots waved Israeli, US, and UAE flags from the cockpit once the plane landed on the tarmac in Abu Dhabi to mark the first commercial flight from Israel to a Gulf state.

The Israeli officials will hold talks with UAE officials later on Monday.

=— Mohamed Othman (@Othmanbay) August 31, 2020" style="color:#fff;" class="twitter-post-link" target="_blank">Twitter Post First photo for #Israeli and #US officials fly to #UAE to cement "normalisation" deal . The second for #Arabic, #English and #Hebrew word for "#peace" on #Israel flag carrier El Al's airliner which will carry Israeli and U.S. delegations to #AbuDhabi (Reuters) pic.twitter.com/9MfXVx3Tye — Mohamed Othman (@Othmanbay) August 31, 2020

The flight, an Israeli El-Al airliner emblazoned with the Israeli national colours of blue and white as well as the Star of David.

The 'historic' flight marks another step towards implementing the 13 August normalisation agreement between Israel and the UAE, which sparked anger across the Arab world.

Netanyahu said the Abu Dhabi talks would "advance peace and normalisation" with the UAE and would focus on flights and tourism, trade, business, energy, security and health, including the coronavirus pandemic.

However, the bombshell announcement earlier this month sparked fury from Arabs who have long seen the establishment of a Palestinian state as a prerequisite for Arab-Israeli diplomatic relations to be established.

The UAE has claimed that the normalisation agreement will stop Israel from going ahead with its planned annexation of Palestinian land, however, Netanyahu said the project has only been delayed.

Ahead of the trip, the UAE on Saturday issued a decree  formally ending the country's boycott of Israel on orders of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the UAE ruler.

WAM said the new decree allows Israelis and Israeli firms to do business in the UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula. It also allows for the purchase and trade of Israeli goods.