Aerial Normalization Done: Flight To ‘Israeli’-occupied Territories Crosses Saudi Airspace

According to Calcalist, Saudi Arabia informed the three companies on Wednesday about its approval, adding that it will allow foreign airliners as well to cross its airspace while on their way to the ‘Israeli’-occupied Palestinian territories.

In further details, a commercial flight bound for the occupied territories entered the Saudi airspace on Thursday for the first time since Saudi Arabia opened its skies to all flights, including ‘Israeli’ ones, last month.

The flight operated by Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific airline took off from Hong Kong and was set to land in Tel Aviv on Thursday morning.

A flight tracking service showed the plane flying over the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf before crossing over the Saudi coastline near the city of Dammam. The plane flew over northern Saudi Arabia and Jordan, and entered the ‘Israeli’-occupied territory north of the Dead Sea.

Another Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong to Tel Aviv earlier this week took a different route, flying northwest over China, Kazakhstan and Turkey, and entering the ‘Israeli’-occupied airspace from the Mediterranean Sea.

Last month, Saudi Arabia announced it had opened its airspace to all civilian overflights hours before US President Joe Biden became the first US leader to directly fly from the occupied territories to the Kingdom.

Saudi Arabia does not yet have official diplomatic relations with the ‘Israeli’ occupation regime although covert ties have warmed in recent years as Riyadh and its de facto ruler, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, have reportedly come to see the Zionist as a strategic partner in the battle against what they both refer to as the Iranian influence in the region.

Although Riyadh declined to sign onto the US-brokered normalization deals between certain Arab regimes and the ‘Israeli’ occupation entity in 2020, it is believed to have given the go-ahead to Bahrain, where it retains decisive influence, to join the normalization agreement alongside the UAE and Morocco.