Oman to allow Israeli aircraft to fly through its airspace, says Jerusalem
Representative image. Israel says Oman allows Israeli aircraft to pass through its airspace.
Oman has decided to allow Israeli aircraft to fly through its airspace, indicating another sign of closer ties between the two countries. The announcement was made by Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on Thursday (February 23). Cohen said the approval (from Oman) is a "significant and historic decision for the Israeli economy and Israeli travellers,” the news agency AP reported.
Taking to Twitter, Oman's Civil Aviation Authority did not directly mention Israel but said, "As part of the Sultanate of Oman’s continuous efforts to fulfil its obligations under the Chicago Convention of 1944, the Civil Aviation Authority affirms that the Sultanate’s airspace is open for all carriers that meet the requirements of the Authority for overflying."
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Oman and Israel have had secretive ties for years with Muscat establishing unofficial trade relations in the early 2000s. But the ties came into the public light when Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a surprise visit to the country in October 2018, the first such trip in more than two decades.
According to a statement by Netanyahu's office, he discussed peace initiatives in the middle east with former Omani leader Sultan Qaboos. And earlier in 2018, Oman's then-Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi made a rare visit to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque.
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The previous such visit to Oman was in 1994 by then-Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Oman has had a low-key role in fostering negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians. It also served as a mediator between the United States and Israel's arch-rival Iran as it hosted talks which led to the 2015 nuclear agreement.
However, Oman was not among the four countries to sign normalisation deals with Israel in 2020 under American-brokered agreements called the Abraham records. As part of the deals, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan agreed to normalise ties with Jerusalem.
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