Direct Tel Aviv-Doha flights during World Cup
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Raven Ruma
- . November 12, 2022
- . Update: November 12, 2022 10:56 pm
In order to make it easier for eligible Israeli and Palestinian supporters to attend the next World Cup in Doha, FIFA said on Thursday that direct charter flights would travel between Israel and Qatar, two countries that do not have formal diplomatic ties.
The world governing body claimed to have negotiated the agreement allowing match ticket and a legitimate Hayya fan ID holders to travel from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport to Doha’s Hamad International for the one-month event.
All Palestinians, including those residing in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip, are covered by the accord, a Qatari official told Reuters.
Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, stated in a statement that “with this accord, Israelis and Palestinians will be able to fly together and enjoy football together.”
According to an unidentified spokeswoman for Q22, the event operator in Qatar, the agreement mandates that Palestinian ticket holders and media “fly on these chartered planes without limits as they have an equal right to enjoy the tournament.”
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The deal to create “an Israeli office in Qatar to give services to fans arriving for the World Cup,” according to Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, was reached after months of discussions.
It was also decided that an Israeli consular team would offer consular services to Israeli nationals who were attending the World Cup, according to a statement from Israel’s Foreign Ministry.
The first Middle East competition, which runs from November 20 to December 18, will feature an Israeli consular team headquartered in Qatar, according to a representative for Israel’s Foreign Ministry, who spoke to Reuters. When pressed for more information on the consular team, the spokeswoman stated that they would be knowledgeable Israeli citizens.
When prompted for comment over Israel’s consular arrangements, the Qatari official referred Reuters to the FIFA statement, which stated that a Doha-based travel agency would provide consular support to Israeli visitors in Qatar during the World Cup in coordination with Israel’s Foreign Ministry.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yigal Lapid stated that the decision to allow citizens to travel to Qatar for the World Cup “opens a new door for us to warm ties” in June.
According to the Qatari source, the agreement on direct flights does not alter Qatar’s position on normalising relations with Israel, which is connected to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The official stated, “This is part of Qatar’s commitment to meet FIFA’s hosting obligations and it should not be politicised.” Palestinians will now be able to enjoy the first World Cup in the Arab and Muslim world thanks to this deal.
Doha informed Israel that “any escalation in Jerusalem, Gaza, or the West Bank during (the World Cup) will risk the revocation of the deal, including the direct flights,” the Qatari official later added.
Only special visas given for sporting events or conferences are typically available to Israeli passport holders for travel to Qatar. Direct flights between the two nations don’t currently exist.
There have been discussions with Royal Jordanian Airlines to conduct the World Cup charter flights, according to a source with knowledge of the arrangement who asked to remain anonymous owing to privacy concerns. FIFA stated that the flight arrangement is “subject to Israel’s operational and security capacities.”
According to the source, at least 3,900 Israelis and 8,000 Palestinians have filed for Hayya cards. United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, two countries in the Gulf that border Qatar, established diplomatic ties with Israel in 2020.
