First Palestinians to fly from Negev desert airport arrive in Cyprus

Cyprus (AFP):

A group of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank flew abroad from an airport in Israel’s Negev desert for the first time Monday, arriving in Cyprus under a newly launched pilot scheme.

An AFP correspondent said around 25 Palestinians arrived on Israel’s Arkia airlines flight from Ramon airport, near the southern Israeli resort city of Eilat, into Larnaca airport on Monday afternoon.

While residents of Israeli settlements in the West Bank can travel abroad from Israel’s main international airport near Tel Aviv, the vast majority of Palestinians from the territory are banned from doing so.

Palestinians must instead make an overland crossing from the West Bank to Jordan, before boarding a flight in the country’s capital Amman.

Rather than permit Palestinians to fly from Ramon, some 180 kilometres (112 miles) south of the West Bank, Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh called on Israel to instead reopen Jerusalem airport.

The airport in east Jerusalem was used by Palestinians until the 1967 Six-Day War, when Israel captured the area and other Palestinian territories.

Israelis operated the Jerusalem airport until 2001 and it has since been deserted, though there are plans to build a settlement on the site.

The first flights in the Ramon pilot programme were expected to be operated by Turkish airlines, but the Israel Airports Authority said Sunday that the involvement of foreign firms in the scheme had been postponed.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas was due to travel Monday to the Turkish capital Ankara, days after Turkey and Israel restored full diplomatic relations.