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Palestinians Fly to Cyprus in Israeli Airport Pilot Program

Activists set up a Palestinian flag overlooking an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. (AFP file photo)
Activists set up a Palestinian flag overlooking an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. (AFP file photo)
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Palestinians Fly to Cyprus in Israeli Airport Pilot Program

Activists set up a Palestinian flag overlooking an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. (AFP file photo)
Activists set up a Palestinian flag overlooking an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. (AFP file photo)

Several dozen Palestinians flew to Cyprus on Monday from an airport in southern Israel as part of a pilot program to allow Palestinians from the occupied West Bank to fly abroad.

The move was part of a series of gestures Israel said it is making to improve living conditions of Palestinians in both the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Critics said the measures do not address the daily humiliations of the decades-long occupation or pave the road for Palestinian statehood.

Forty-three residents of the West Bank cities of Bethlehem, Jericho, Ramallah and Nablus took off from Ramon Airport heading to Larnaca, Cyprus, said Amir Assi, a strategic consultant who coordinated the flights, The Associated Press reported.

COGAT, the Israeli military body responsible for governing civil affairs in the West Bank, confirmed that Palestinians boarded an international flight from Ramon Airport for the first time and that “staff work is still under way” to facilitate regular flights for Palestinians.

The recently opened Ramon Airport is located near Israel’s resort city of Eilat, about 230 kilometers (140 miles) south of Jerusalem. It is smaller than Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport outside Tel Aviv, has fewer flights and destinations and is less busy.

Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip do not have their own airport and must apply for a hard-to-obtain airport permit to use the Ben Gurion airport. Such permits are only approved, if at all, shortly before takeoff.

Those in the West Bank wishing to fly abroad must travel to Jordan’s capital of Amman through a crowded Israeli border crossing. The crossing isn’t open 24 hours a day, forcing many travelers to pay to stay in a hotel nearby ahead of their flight. There are also travel costs and crossing fees that make the journey an added financial burden.

The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli blockade since the militant Hamas group seized power in 2007, and all movement in and out of the territory is heavily restricted.

The airport authority said earlier this month that there would be twice weekly flights for Palestinians from Ramon to Antalya, Turkey, later in August and that flights to Istanbul would begin in September.

Israel captured both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war, and the Palestinians seek them for a future state. There have not been substantive peace talks in over a decade.

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Arab World

Shiite Forces Boycott Meeting with Vatican Secretary on Lebanon’s Presidential Crisis

Parolin, al-Rai and other officials during the meeting at Bkirki. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Parolin, al-Rai and other officials during the meeting at Bkirki. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Shiite Forces Boycott Meeting with Vatican Secretary on Lebanon’s Presidential Crisis

Parolin, al-Rai and other officials during the meeting at Bkirki. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Parolin, al-Rai and other officials during the meeting at Bkirki. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Representatives of Lebanon's Supreme Islamic Shiite Council and Shiite deputies boycotted a meeting of the heads of sects and parliamentary blocs with Vatican Secretary Cardinal Pietro Parolin at the seat of the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkirki on Tuesday.

The meeting, which focused on the presidential crisis, was held at Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai's invitation.

Addressing the gatherers, Parolin underlined the need to preserve the “Lebanese model” in the turbulent region. He called on the different parties to cooperate to resolve the crisis and reach solutions that “bring hope to Lebanon and its people.”

“I convey to you the greetings of His Holiness Pope Francis, who is carefully following the developments in Lebanon...” he stated, adding: “Today, Lebanon must remain a model of coexistence and unity in light of the ongoing crises and wars.”

He said he was in Lebanon to help end the crisis, namely the failure to elect a president of the republic.

The presidency has been vacant since Michel Aoun’s term ended in October 2022.

For his part, al-Rai emphasized that the meeting was a “gathering of the Lebanese family” and an opportunity for dialogue and mutual understanding, especially during these challenging times.

Shiite representatives boycotted the meeting despite an invitation being sent to the Supreme Shiite Islamic Council.

An informed source told Asharq Al-Awsat that the decision was a response to remarks made by al-Rai during the Sunday mass sermon, in which he said that the resistance against Israel in the South has turned the area into an arena for terrorist acts that destabilize the security and stability of the region.

According to the same source, the Shiite community has no problem with the Vatican, as Parolin is scheduled to meet with Speaker Nabih Berri - a Shiite - on Wednesday.

Jaafari Mufti Sheikh Ahmed Qabalan sent a letter to the Vatican secretary, criticizing al-Rai’s position without naming him and saying: “Some spiritual leaders in my country view what the group of its resisters are doing as abhorrent terrorism that must be deterred and prevented.”

“We do not accept that the Church uses positions that serve Zionist terrorism and global crime,” he added.

Regarding the election of a president, Qabalan stressed: “We want a Christian president for the Muslims, who is as eager as the Muslim resistance [Hezbollah] and its sacrifices for the sake of the Christian churches. This can only be achieved through consensus that safeguards the homeland of Muslims and Christians.”

Christian parties quickly slammed Qabalan’s remarks. In a statement, the Kataeb Party said the letter “contained clear incitement against the role of Bkirki and hateful sectarianism that we have never heard before even at the peak of the Lebanese [civil] war.”