First there was a green light.

That of Riyadh, which last week accepted the UAE's request to be able to cross Saudi airspace from and to "all countries" with their commercial flights.

"All the countries" and above all one: Israel, a diplomatically complicated destination while Saudi Arabia has no official relations with the Hebrew state.

This green light comes after the surprise announcement, on August 13, of the agreement to normalize relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, the first Gulf state to do so and the third Arab country, after Egypt in 1979 and the United Arab Emirates. Jordan in 1994. 

If Saudi Arabia did not follow suit, it nevertheless agreed to open its skies.

A plane from the Israeli company El Al was thus able to make, on August 31, the first direct commercial flight between Tel Aviv in Israel and Abu Dhabi, overflying Saudi airspace, with a Franco-American delegation on board. 

"A lasting and just solution for the Palestinian cause"

Donald Trump congratulated King Salman of Saudi Arabia, a key ally of the United States and the Emirates as well, for his authorization.

"President Trump (...) welcomed the opening of Saudi airspace to flights between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, starting with the historic commercial flight from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi," according to a report of the White House.

The US president also insisted on the "importance" of the normalization agreement, called the "Abraham accord" by the Americans, and "discussed ways to strengthen regional security and prosperity," the US executive said. .

The Saudi king, for his part, insisted on "the desire of the kingdom to reach a lasting and just solution for the Palestinian cause to achieve peace," the official Saudi press agency SPA reported on Monday, reporting on the call. which took place on Sunday 6 September. 

Saudi Arabia, the Arab world's largest economy, had previously signaled that it would not follow in Abu Dhabi's footsteps until the Jewish state signed a community-recognized peace deal with the Palestinians international.

With AFP

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