UAE visit delayed over crisis with Jordan: Netanyahu

By Said Amouri

JERUSALEM (AA) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday his trip to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was delayed because of a diplomatic crisis with Jordan.

His office said earlier that the trip was postponed because of delays in flight permission above Jordanian airspace.

Netanyahu said in a news conference, alongside his Hungarian and Czech counterparts, that Jordanian permission was granted but the visit was later postponed in agreement with UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan.

"These difficulties apparently come from the cancellation of the Jordanian Crown Prince's visit to the Temple Mount [Al-Aqsa Mosque] following a dispute over security arrangements at the Site," Netanyahu's office said, referring to the Jordanian Crown Prince’s visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque planned on Wednesday. That trip was canceled due to differences concerning security arrangements with Israeli authorities.

On Thursday, Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman al-Safadi said Jordanian and Israeli authorities reached arrangements for the Crown Prince visit to Al-Aqsa Mosque.

"We were surprised when they sought to impose new arrangements and change the plan for the visit in a manner which would have distressed Jerusalemites during that night of worship," added al-Safadi, in reference to a holy night on the Islamic calendar.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu said he agreed with Bin Zayed to reschedule the visit without specifying a date and agreed on investments worth $10 billion.

Several bilateral agreements were signed in different fields following an Israeli-UAE normalization deal last year.

*Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara