Dubai: A photo of the first commercial Israel-UAE flight went viral across social networking sites in the UAE as a message painted on the airplane gave residents a pleasant surprise.
The El Al flight, which was set to take off at 7.30 am GMT from Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, will carry a delegation headed by Jared Kushner, senior adviser to US President Donald Trump, and Meir Ben-Shabbat, National Security Adviser and head of the Israeli National Security Council.
Before the flight took off, netizens shared an image of the airplane with the word “peace” painted on it in Arabic, English and Hebrew.
The first flight of Israel’s national carrier is expected to land in Abu Dhabi at 3.06 pm.
The Embassy of Israel in the USA had earlier tweeted the scheduled flight, commenting: "FYI: the flight from Israel is flight number 971 (phone country code); the returning flight is 972 (phone country code)!"
The visit comes in the wake of the trilateral announcement and roadmap towards joint cooperation between the UAE, Israel and the US.
The delegation, comprised of representatives from the investment, finance, health, civil space and aviation, foreign policy, diplomacy, tourism, and culture sectors, is expected to meet with a number of representatives of UAE government agencies to discuss ways to develop relations in related fields and promote joint action and opportunities for cooperation.
The visit comes as part of trilateral efforts to normalise relations that help achieve peace, stability, and support bilateral cooperation.
As a result of the diplomatic breakthrough, residents on social media also applauded the peace accord between the two countries, which resulted in Israel suspending its planned annexation of large parts of the Palestinian land in the West Bank. Tweeps commented that that the relationship between UAE and Israel will undoubtedly help the Palestinian cause, and on a more local level, will also help create jobs for young people in the UAE.
