Kuwaitis starting tours to East Jerusalem

Kuwaiti Airways stresses tours to Israeli capital do not constitute recognition;Kuwait's FM visited Jerusalem

Starting next week, Kuwaiti citizens will be able to visit Jerusalem on a package tour that includes prayers at one of Islam's holiest sites and shopping in the Palestinian Authority, according to Kuwait Airways, the country's national airlines.

In advance of the tours, Kuwait's Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister made an unofficial trip to pray in Jerusalem a month ago, during a landmark visit to the PA – the first by a ranking Kuwaiti official to the West Bank since 1967. Sheikh Sabah al-Khaled al-Sabah prayed at the al-Aqsa Mosque. His visit was coordinated with Israel but there were no Israeli officials present.

In an interview with the Kuwaiti daily al-Qabas, published on Monday, the head of the Holidays Office at Kuwait Airways Corporation, Khalaf Al-Mana, stressed that the tours do not constitute Kuwaiti recognition of Israel or normalization of ties with the Jewish state. Kuwait, like the majority of Arab states, do not maintain official ties with Israel. Nonetheless, the tourists will have to go through the Israeli border crossing from Jordan to Israel and through an Israeli military checkpoint from the West Bank into Jerusalem.

Al-Mana said the tourists' passports will not be stamped by Israel. He said the company had received all the necessary permits from Jordan and the Palestinian Authority and would start the tours on Oct. 22.

The tourists will be flown from Kuwait to the Jordanian capital of Amman, where they will board a bus and travel to Jerusalem.


http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/middle-east/47100-141013-kuwait-starting-tours-to-east-jerusalem