JERUSALEM
\nIsrael\u2019s regional cooperation minister said on Thursday that he had asked Saudi Arabia to admit direct flights from Tel Aviv for Muslim pilgrims, pointing to a possible new accommodation by Riyadh ahead of next week\u2019s visit by US President Joe Biden.
\nIsraeli officials have also been seeking expanded permission for their airlines to fly over Saudi soil to Asian destinations.
\nSaudi Arabia does not recognise Israel and has said nothing of possible bilateral developments during Biden\u2019s visit. Israel has also shied from drawing such links.
\nBut a person in Washington who was familiar with the matter said the new aviation deals sought by Israel could be announced around the time of Biden\u2019s visit, but that details still needed to be worked out and may not be completed in time.
\nRegional Cooperation Minister Esawi Freij said Israel has been working to bring what he deemed as \u201cunder the counter\u201d contacts between the countries\u2013based mostly on commercial interests and shared worries about Iran\u2013more into the open.
\n\u201cI want to see the day when I can depart from Ben-Gurion (airport near Tel Aviv) to Jeddah to fulfil my religious obligation\u201d of pilgrimage to Makkah, said Freij, a member of Israel\u2019s 18% Muslim minority.
\n\u201cI took this matter up with Saudi Arabia and I really hope that day will come,\u201d he told Israel\u2019s Army Radio, without expanding on where or when such discussions took place.
\nSaudi Arabia has long admitted Muslim pilgrims from Israel, but they must travel through third countries. That ends up costing around $11,500 for a week-long stay, Freij said. Pilgrims from neighbouring Arab countries pay around half that.
\nWhen the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain established relations with Israel in 2020, Riyadh signalled its assent by providing a Saudi air corridor for Israeli planes headed to those Gulf states.
\n\u201cWe are in talks on getting general (Saudi) over-flight rights for destinations other than Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Manama. This will save significant times for reaching Asian destinations, for example,\u201d an Israeli official told Reuters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JERUSALEM Israel\u2019s regional cooperation minister said on Thursday that he had asked Saudi Arabia to admit direct flights from Tel Aviv for Muslim pilgrims, pointing to a possible new accommodation by Riyadh ahead of next week\u2019s visit by US President Joe Biden. Israeli officials have also been seeking expanded permission for their airlines to fly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270439,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[8492,1430,501],"class_list":{"0":"post-270418","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-hajj-pilgrims","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-saudi-arabia"},"yoast_head":"\n