Another historical event for Israel took place when the first public delegation from the United Arab Emirates to visit Israel landed at Ben-Gurion Aiport on Tuesday at noon to finalize agreements between the two countries, a month after the Abraham Accords peace agreement was signed in Washington.

The UAE delegation is headed by the UAE Minister of State for Financial Affairs, Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, and UAE Minister of Economy Abdulla bin Touq Al Mari. They were joined by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Middle East envoy Ari Berkowitz, who flew from Bahrain, where a peace agreement was signed with Israel on Sunday, to the UAE.

In a covert twist revealed by Walla News on Tuesday morning, the UAE and US officials were accompanied on the flight from Abu Dhabi by two senior Israeli officials from the Prime Minister’s Office, who were also in Bahrain on Sunday and secretly traveled from Manama to Abu Dhabi on Monday to hold talks with UAE officials instead of returning to Israel with the other Israeli officials.

The dawn of a new era.
🇦🇪 🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/5Xdg6jw356

— Etihad Airways (@etihad) October 20, 2020

“If someone asked me a few months ago if I would be here in Tel-Aviv, I would say that’s impossible…It’s the beginning of a new relationship”. Listen to the captain of the first ever @etihad flight that landed in Israel this morningpic.twitter.com/aNhvHTsXSC

— Yiftah Curiel (@yiftahc) October 19, 2020

The delegation was welcomed at Ben-Gurion Airport by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu‏‏, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, and National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat, and an official welcoming ceremony took place on the tarmac at Ben-Gurion airport, with speeches by Netanyahu, Mnuchin, UAE Minister of State for Financial Affairs Obaid Humaid Al Tayer and US International Development Finance Corporation CEO Adam S. Boehler.

“Welcome to Israel,” Netanyahu said in his speech. “Today we are making history in a way that will stand for generations…We are working together to change the Middle East for the better. We are all sons of Abraham.”

The ceremony and meetings are all taking place at Ben-Gurion Airport, due to coronavirus concerns. The visit is estimated to last about five hours, after which the UAE delegation will fly directly back to Abu Dhabi from Ben-Gurion.

Following the speeches, a trilateral meeting is being held at the airport with the US delegation, the UAE officials and the Israeli officials, followed by a bilateral meeting with the UAE and Israeli teams — the first-ever direct bilateral meeting between ministers from the two countries.

Agreements will be signed on investment, science and technology, air travel, and other areas, as well as a mutual visa exemption, which means that Israelis visiting the UAE and Emiratis visiting Israel won’t require visas and it will now be easier for Israelis to visit the UAE than the United States. It is Israel’s first visa exemption agreement with an Arab state.

Special Representative for International Negotiations Avi Berkowitz recorded the captain’s message on the fight from Abu Dhabi to Israel, only two days after doing the same on the historic El Al flight from Israel to Bahrain on Sunday. In fact, Tuesday is the third day in a row that Israel marked historic events, as wryly noted by a Times of Israel correspondent.

Before the speeches start, please note that today is especially historic because it's the third historic day in a row

— Raphael Ahren (@RaphaelAhren) October 20, 2020

https://twitter.com/aviberkow45/status/1318440057003409408?s=20

استكمال التحضيرات لليوم التاريخي ولاستقبال الوفد الإماراتي في مطار بن غوريون الدولي 🇦🇪🇮🇱@ofirgendelman pic.twitter.com/UhQXPuULGq

— إسرائيل في الخليج (@IsraelintheGulf) October 20, 2020

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)