RABAT: The first Israel-Morocco direct commercial flight landed in Rabat Tuesday to mark the latest US-brokered diplomatic normalisation deal between the Jewish state and an Arab country.
President Donald Trump's son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner was on board along with Israeli National Security Advisor Meir Ben Shabbat.
The trip aims to showcase the achievements of the Trump administration in Middle East diplomacy, weeks before Trump is replaced at the White House by President-elect Joe Biden.
Both sides expected to sign agreements paving the way for direct air links, to connect their financial systems and on a visa waver arrangement for diplomats, according to an Israeli official source.
Morocco became the third Arab state this year, after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, to normalise ties with Israel under US-brokered deals, while Sudan has pledged to follow suit.
Speaking at Israel's Ben Gurion airport before his departure, Kushner stressed that the UAE-Israel deal had already created commercial opportunities for both countries. "My hope is that this flight today to Morocco will create the same amount of momentum," between Morocco and Israel, he said before getting on the plane painted with the Hebrew, Arabic and English words for "peace".-
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