Palestinian Authority Rejects Second Batch of UAE Aid Sent Via Ben-Gurion Airport

By Staff, Agencies

The Palestinian Authority rejected Wednesday the second batch of medical supplies sent by the United Arab Emirates [UAE] to help fight COVID-19 coronavirus.

"We refuse to receive it because it was coordinated directly between ‘Israel’ and them [the UAE]," Palestinian civil affairs minister Hussein al-Sheikh told AFP, adding that the delivery had not been coordinated with Ramallah.

The supplies, delivered on the first direct Etihad Airways flight from the Gulf to ‘Israeli’ occupation’s Ben-Gurion Airport, which landed in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, were the second UAE humanitarian cargo turned down by Ramallah in a month.

Jordan and Egypt are the only Arab countries to hold public normalization ties with the ‘Israeli’ occupation regime, but other Arab nations like the UAE have been warming up relations with the apartheid entity recently amid shared concerns over common rival Iran.

While a May 19 Etihad flight carrying Palestinian aid from Abu Dhabi to Tel Aviv was unmarked, Tuesday was the first time an Etihad aircraft landed in the occupied territories bearing its logo.