The first-ever direct dialing service to 11 Arab countries began at midnight Wednesday.
But the service, provided by Bezek, the Israeli government’s telephone corporation, is still a one-way affair.
The Arab states that can be reached include Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf emirates, Jordan, Lebanon, Yemen and Morocco. While these countries cannot block incoming calls, their nationals or visitors may not dial directly to the Jewish State. Their international exchange operators also cannot handle calls to Israel.
Israeli newspapers, which published the area codes for the Arab countries Thursday morning, lost no time testing the service.
Reporters mainly dialed hotels in the Gulf States. They were received with surprise and a queasiness over talking directly to Israel.
A reception clerk at a hotel in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, told his caller he was embarrassed to be talking to Jerusalem. Asked how the weather was in Jeddah, the clerk replied, “I don’t know.”
A receptionist at the Bahrain Hilton, asked if he could accept a booking from Israel for next month replied, “Please book through your local Hilton.”
For the past few years, phone links to the Arab world have been made possible by special facilities opened up by the Solan Communications Corporation, an Israeli company which routes calls from Israel via its facilities in London.
Solan has protested the opening of the new service by Bezek which can undercut its prices because Solan must use Bezek services between Israel and Britain.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
