Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh said that the authority learned about the issue of the Emirati aid plane that arrived at the Lod airport in Israel from newspapers, denying that there is any coordination with the Palestinians on this aid.
Shtayyeh added during a press conference in the presence of the European Union ambassadors who donated aid to the Palestinians, that the authority had heard about the Emirati plane, but no one had contacted it about it.
For its part, Palestinian Health Minister Mai Kaila said that the Palestinian Authority cannot receive Emirati aid that arrived at an Israeli airport, as it was not coordinated with the Palestinian Authority regarding it.
A source in the Palestinian Authority has announced that there has been no coordination with it regarding this aid, and therefore the authority does not consider itself a party to the matter, as he stressed the authority's refusal to be a bridge of normalization between Arab parties and Israel, claiming aid.
Al-Jazeera correspondent Sherine Abu Oqla said that the Palestinian side assured more than one official that it was not coordinated with him regarding this aid; Not with the Palestinian ambassador to the Emirates, nor with the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah.
She added that the Israeli side contacted the Palestinian Ministry of Finance and asked them to clear the shipment, but the authority refused this, and declined to receive the Emirati shipment.
Aid as cover for normalization
For his part, Secretary-General of the Palestinian Initiative Mustafa Al-Barghouthi said in an interview with Al-Jazeera that the Emirati behavior is incomprehensible and unacceptable, especially in light of the conditions in the Palestinian issue and the attempts to liquidate it after what he called the century deal proposed by the American administration.
He stressed that under no circumstances should the humanitarian need of the Palestinians be used to accelerate the pace of normalization with the occupying Power.
He said that it would have been better for the Emiratis to send their aid through Jordan as the World Health Organization did, not through the occupying country.
He stressed the necessity of rejecting this aid and returning the Emirati plane and what it carries to where it left, pointing out that the Palestinians do not accept the use of their humanitarian needs as a cover for normalization with Israel.
An Emirati plane for the first time in Israel
A Emirati cargo plane arriving from Abu Dhabi landed last Tuesday at an Israeli airport with medical aid on board for the Palestinians.
The plane took off from Abu Dhabi, and the Emirates Airlines confirmed that the plane belonged to it, adding that there were no passengers on board. This is the first known flight of an Emirates-owned company to Israel.
The plane transported more than 10 tons of medical equipment intended for the Palestinian Authority, and upon its arrival at the Israeli airport the cargo was unloaded.
Video footage showed workers at the airport unloading boxes written on it as Emirati aid to the Palestinians to combat the Corona virus.
The twelfth Israeli channel had reported a few days ago that the Emirates Airlines had transferred a number of Israelis stranded in Morocco to Tel Aviv at the request of the Israeli side.