A gaggle of Qatari activists campaigning towards the normalization of ties with Israel have mentioned they’re stunned that their authorities has licensed direct flights between Tel Aviv and Doha throughout the Football World Cup.
The protest – by Qatar Youth Against Normalization, a vocal group of 24 members, principally Qatari – was small however notable in a state the place residents not often communicate out towards the authorities. “It comes as a shock to us that in the days of the World Cup, Qatar has entered new areas of normalization with the announcement that direct flights will now operate between apartheid Israel and Doha,” the group mentioned late Thursday. Will be.”
There was no speedy response to requests for remark despatched to Qatar’s official communications workplace, World Cup organisers, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy or FIFA, soccer’s world governing physique.
FIFA mentioned on Thursday it had struck a deal between Qatar and Israel to facilitate the attendance of eligible Israeli and Palestinian followers who wouldn’t have formal diplomatic ties on the World Cup, which runs from November 20 to December 18. A Qatar official advised Reuters on Thursday that the deal on the flights didn’t change his nation’s stance on Israel.
While Qatar’s Gulf neighbors the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain cast ties with Israel in 2020 underneath US-brokered agreements, Qatar has mentioned that normalization with Israel is tied to the creation of a Palestinian state. The official mentioned the settlement on flights is a part of Qatar’s dedication to FIFA’s internet hosting wants and shouldn’t be politicised.
A Qatari official mentioned Palestinians residing within the Israeli-occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip will have the ability to board flights to Doha at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken late on Thursday described the flight settlement as “a historic development and an important step that holds great promise to strengthen people-to-people ties and economic ties”.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
