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Netanyahu shelves UAE trip following flight route spat with Jordan
A statement from the premier's office said he "was expected to visit the United Arab Emirates today but, due to difficulties in coordinating his flight in Jordan's airspace, the visit was postponed."
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a press conference in Jerusalem on August 13, 2020. - Israel and the UAE agreed to normalise relations in a landmark US-brokered deal, only the third such accord the Jewish state has struck with an Arab nation. The agreement, first announced by US President Donald Trump on Twitter, will see Israel halt its plan to annex large parts of the occupied West Bank, according to the UAE. (Pool/Reuters/Abir Sultan )
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sraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled a historic visit to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, citing a disagreement with Jordan over crossing its airspace.
A statement from the premier's office said he "was expected to visit the United Arab Emirates today but, due to difficulties in coordinating his flight in Jordan's airspace, the visit was postponed."
It did not set a new date.
The Hebrew-language statement said that the overflight row "apparently stemmed" from the cancellation by Israel of a planned visit Wednesday by Jordan's Crown Prince Hussein to the Al-Aqsa mosque in annexed east Jerusalem.
The prince's visit was called off following "a dispute over security and safety arrangements at the site," the Israeli statement said.
There was no immediate comment from Amman.
Israel and the UAE established ties last year in a diplomatic coup for Netanyahu brokered by his staunch ally, US president Donald Trump.
The deal made UAE only the third Arab state to establish relations with Israel, following Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.
Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan subsequently reached similar US-brokered agreements with Israel.
Reuters reported the UAE has not formally confirmed the planned visit, which leaked to Israeli media on Wednesday. According to a statement issued by Netanyahu's office, he and Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan agreed to reschedule.
A hold-up in overflight permission from Amman for Netanyahu's plane "apparently" stemmed from the cancellation of a visit by Jordanian Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah to Jerusalem's al Aqsa mosque compound on Wednesday over a dispute regarding security arrangements at the site, the statement said.
Permission eventually came through but too late for Netanyahu's itinerary, which included meeting his visiting Hungarian and Czech counterparts later on Thursday, it said.
Netanyahu had been due to visit the UAE and Bahrain - which also has newly established ties with Israel - last month but postponed that trip citing COVID-19 travel restrictions.
Israeli officials said earlier on Thursday that Netanyahu's wife Sara had been hospitalised with appendicitis - another possible factor, local media said, in the deferral of the UAE visit.
Jordan's ruling Hashemite dynasty is the custodian of the Al Aqsa compound, an icon of the Palestinian statehood struggle and the third holiest site in Islam. Israel maintains security around the site, which Jews revere as the vestige of their two ancient temples.
