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UAE hails first flight, visa-free travel to Israel

While Emirati citizens will be allowed into Israel without visas, Palestinians living inside the opT must undergo a painstaking process to obtain a permit to enter Israel for anything from work, health and humanitarian emergencies, to a simple visit to religious and cultural sites in Jerusalem.

The first commercial flight from the United Arab Emirates to Israel landed in Tel Aviv earlier this week, a month after signing an agreement to normalize relations between the two countries.

The Etihad Airways flight took off from the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi and landed at Ben Gurion Airport early Monday morning, dawning Israeli and UAE flags as it taxied on the Tel Aviv runway. 

Etihad airways praised the flight on social media, saying the flight represented the “dawn of a new era.”

“Today, we make history,” the airlines said in a Tweet, adding “this is only the beginning.”

A few hours after the flight landed, another Etihad plane took off from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi, carrying an Israeli tourism and travel delegation, who will reportedly be visiting the UAE for two days. 

The Etihad flight comes weeks after the first commercial flight, run by Israel’s national airline El Al, took off from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi. 

Both flights, while celebrated by the UAE, Israel, and the US as historic achievements, were widely criticized by Palestinians and Arabs around the region for their roles in normalizing the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and the numerous human rights abuses committed by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory. 

Etihad said in a statement that it plans to “schedule regular passenger flights between the countries in the future,” and that it would soon be launching a website in Hebrew.

A day after the Etihad flight landed in Tel Aviv, it was announced that Israel and the UAE agreed to allow visa-free travel for their citizens between the two countries, in an effort to “boost [to] business, tourism and people to people contacts,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. 

“The mutual trade and exchange of goods, services, technology and knowledge will benefit immeasurably not only our two countries but the Middle East as a whole,” he said.

Tuesday’s aviation deal states that 28 passenger flights and 10 cargo flights will be scheduled on a weekly basis between the two countries. 

Palestinians took to social media to highlight the irony of the fact that while Emirati citizens would be allowed into Israel without visas, many Palestinians living inside the occupied West Bank and Gaza must go through a painstaking process to obtain a permit to enter Israel for anything from work, health and humanitarian emergencies, to a simple visit to religious and cultural sites in Jerusalem. 

Permits are often denied to Palestinians, particularly to young men or relatives of anyone affiliated with “political activity”, and can cost hundreds of dollars in legal fees for those put on Israeli security “blacklists,” which are notoriously arbitrary and in many cases target Palestinian activists and human rights defenders. 

In fact, just days before the Etihad flight, Israel announced that it would be imposing an entry ban on Palestinian singer and Arab Idol star Mohammed Assaf, who was born in the Gaza Strip and currently resides in the UAE city of Dubai.

Likud member Avi Dichter said Israel “was working with the UAE in examining the possibility of preventing Assaf’s artistic activities there.”

Additionally, millions of Palestinians living in the diaspora are banned from visiting their homeland, while Arabs, Muslims, and people of color have accused Israeli authorities of discrimination and racial profiling at the airport. 

Countless stories of racially and politically-motivated detention, interrogation, and deportation on part of Israeli airport security have been documented by Palestinians and other travelers to Israel and Palestine over the years. 

It is important to note that even in order to travel to visit family in the oPt, Palestinians must pass through Israeli security, as Israel controls all borders and entry and exit points into the Palestinian territory. 

Just last year, an American woman named Elaine Zoughbi was denied entry into the West Bank on her way to her son’s wedding in the city of Bethlehem, and was deported from the Ben Gurion airport hours after arriving. 

Zoughbi’s only offense was that she was married to a Palestinian man for 30 years and had four Palestinian-American children. 

The UAE became the third country, after Jordan and Egypt — both of whom share borders with Israel — to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, with the Gulf nation of Bahrain shortly following in the UAE’s footsteps. 

Despite regional protests against normalization, similar agreements between Israel and other Arab nations are expected to continue into the coming months. 

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Countless stories of racially and politically-motivated detention, interrogation, and deportation on part of Israeli airport security have been documented by Palestinians and other travelers to Israel and Palestine over the years.’

Some years back, Turkey decided to give Israeli visitors a taste of their own medicine after Turkish visitors to Israel were regularly harassed at Ben Gurion. The outcry, including charges of anti-Semitism, was strong and immediate. Hardcore Zionists, like all bullies, can really dish it out, but sure can’t take it!

I would love to see other countries do the same. But, of course, with corrupt Arab dictatorships pandering to Israel for political or financial gain, the chances of this happening are slim to none.