JERUSALEM: President Donald Trump was said to have blazed a new trail between the Arab world and Israel on Monday, with his plane believed to be the first to fly directly from Saudi Arabia to the Jewish state.

A spokesperson for Israel’s civil aviation authority said he was not aware of any plane flying from Riyadh to Tel Aviv before.

Israel has no diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia despite informal ties on certain levels, particularly around shared concerns over Iran.

A plane carrying reporters accompanying Trump had to stop in Cyprus rather than fly directly.

Former aviation authority head Avner Yarkoni said that while Israel would see no problem in a direct flight from Saudi Arabia, there was no reason Donald Trump’s precedent would open the way for a new route between Israel and the Gulf region.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2017