In Dubai amid conflict, Israel promotes tourism

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – When violence flared up in Israel and on a day that Israeli air strikes on Gaza City killed at least 42 people on Sunday, it was normal business for a senior Israeli tourism official in Dubai when she touted the country as a must for Muslim visitors.

It may seem strange at an odd time, as major airlines have suspended flights to Israel while violence flares up and the spread of the coronavirus remains a threat.

In the Arab travel market in Dubai, which was billed as the first travel and tourism event since the global coronavirus outbreak, a small Israeli stand behind the Slovenian one marketed the country as the “Land of Creation”. Promotional videos promoted Israel’s vegan culinary scene and beaches, urging “Book your trip now” to Tel Aviv.

And the devastating air strikes on Gaza that top the world’s television news?

“We haven’t talked about it. We talk about the future. We talk about what we can do to bring tourism to Israel,” said Ksenia Kobiakov, director of new markets development at the Israel Ministry of Tourism.

Israel’s presence at the travel and tourism event in Dubai underscores the UAE’s business-first approach and shows how quickly relations with Israel have developed since the UAE and Israel signed an agreement formalizing the relationship in September . It also shows how even the most brutal conflicts between Israel and the Palestinians are no longer seen by some Gulf Arabs through a prism of Muslim or Arab solidarity, but as part of a broader calculation in a region gripped by multiple threats.

Israel’s Minister of Tourism was due to attend a panel at the conference on Gulf Israel tourism, but the panel was tacitly renamed and her visit to Dubai did not take place. Israeli tourism officials said the minister’s visit was never approved by the prime minister and the cancellation had nothing to do with the current fighting.

The first Israeli tourist plane to the UAE landed in November. Since then, the UAE has welcomed tens of thousands of Israelis to its sandy beaches and marbled shopping malls, most of which flock to Dubai.

Kobiakov said the hope is that UAE nationals and foreign residents of the UAE will visit Israel in return and help the tourism sector recover when the country reopens to tourists.

“We came here to show Israel as a new travel destination for the UAE and the Gulf States, a very colorful, exciting travel destination that is open,” said Kobiakov.

In all of her conversations with tour operators, airlines and others in Dubai on Sunday, the focus was on tourism, not politics, she said. There was no discussion of the current flare-up of violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

A plan to open visa-free travel between the two countries has been postponed due to Israeli quarantine rules. The United Arab Emirates and Israel, which have carried out some of the world’s most successful coronavirus vaccination campaigns, are well on their way to signing the visa waiver agreement on July 1, Kobiakov said.

The current round of violence could affect Israel’s plans to lure tourists back, particularly its efforts to target the citizens of the Emirates and Bahrains, not just potential investors or officials from those countries. The violence surrounding the Al-Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem resulted in a rare reprimand against Israel by both countries, which had signed agreements to recognize Israel last year.

At least 188 Palestinians, including 55 children and 33 women, were killed in Gaza. 1,230 people have been injured since long-running tensions erupted on Monday. Eight people were killed in Israel, including a 5-year-old boy and a soldier. Violence has also raged in Israeli cities between Jews and the country’s Palestinian-Arab citizens, as well as in the occupied West Bank.

During its air strikes, Israel leveled a number of the tallest office and residential buildings in Gaza City because they allegedly contain Hamas’ military infrastructure. Among them was the building that housed The Associated Press office and other media outlets.

The United Arab Emirates’ foreign minister stopped criticizing Israel directly in his latest statement on Friday. Instead, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed urged “all parties to take immediate steps to commit to a ceasefire, initiate political dialogue and exercise maximum restraint”.

In the sprawling premises of Dubai’s tourism event, Kobiakov’s schedule for successive meetings confirmed the long-term approach of bilateral relations between the UAE and Israel.

“People don’t feel safe going to Israel now. It’s understandable. But this escalation will end one day, ”she said. “We know that all conflicts come and go. Tourism stays forever, ”she added.