Israel's flights are permitted to fly through Saudi airspace

 

Israel's flights are permitted to fly through Saudi airspace

 

Keywords: Israel and Saudi Arabia, Airspace, Joe Biden, Yair Lapid

As US President Joe Biden explores the Middle East, Saudi Arabia on Friday opened its airspace to all commercial airlines, including all flights to and from Israel, in an effort to normalize relations between the two countries.

Biden praised the kingdom's decision in a statement released hours before he was scheduled to fly directly from Israel to Saudi Arabia, adding that it might "help build momentum toward Israel's broader integration into the region."

In an effort to pave the way for a normalization agreement between the two nations, the Biden administration has been working for months to codify security and business agreements between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Although Riyadh has not formally acknowledged its diplomatic connections with Israel, it is said to have a covert engagement with the latter. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly travelled to Saudi Arabia in 2020 for a clandestine meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country's de facto ruler. This assertion was refuted by Riyadh's senior ambassador.

The "crown jewel" of accords between the Jewish state and the Arab world has been touted as a potential rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Israel. As part of a flurry of deals near the end of former President Donald Trump's administration, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan repaired relations with Israel in 2020.

The decision by the kingdom is the first time it has permitted unlimited use of its airspace by Israeli airlines for flights into and out of the nation. Saudi Arabia has just lately permitted Israeli airlines to use its airspace for flights from Tel Aviv to the UAE and Bahrain.

Israel's long-standing inability to fly over Saudi airspace has been completely overturned by this action. Israeli airlines previously had to make an hour-long detour around Saudi Arabia while flying to Asian destinations including India and China.

In a statement released on Thursday, Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said that it had made the decision to open its airspace to all aircraft "that meet the Authority's standards for overflying." The country is eager "to fulfil its commitments under the 1944 Chicago Convention, which specifies non-discrimination between civil aircrafts employed in international air navigation," the statement continued.

Biden promised to exert every effort "through direct diplomacy and leader-to-leader contact, to keep pushing this innovative process" in the wake of Saudi Arabia's decision.

The news coming out of Saudi Arabia was applauded by Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who described it as the outcome of "a long road of intense and covert diplomacy with Saudi Arabia and the United States." He stressed that the decision was "just the first step" and pledged to take more measures to foster better relationships moving forward. Lapid also sent his gratitude to Biden and well wishes for the conference he will be attending on Saturday in Jeddah.

On Friday night, the US President is scheduled to meet with King Salman and the crown prince.