Palestinian tourists arrive in Larnaca for first time on direct flight

Palestinian tourists landed on Monday at Larnaca International Airport for the first time on a direct flight from Ramon International Airport in southern Israel, on a flight operated by Israeli private airline Arkia.

This is the first tourist flight holders of Palestinian Authority passports could take departing under the new package of confidence-building measures between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which was agreed upon during the recent visit of US president Joe Biden to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Until recently, Palestinian Authority passport holders first had to travel by road from the West Bank to Jordan via the Allenby Bridge border checkpoint to reach Amman International Airport and there board flights. This procedure has been in place for decades because Israeli authorities did not allow Palestinian Authority citizens to board flights departing from Tel Aviv International Airport, for security reasons.

Under the new confidence-building measures, it was agreed that Palestinian Authority citizens would have the right to travel by road from Ramallah via Jerusalem to the new Ramon International Airport, located near the Israeli resort of Eilat on the Red Sea, crossing 180km on an Israeli bus, specially chartered following the implementation of a special security protocol.

According to the AFP, out of a total of 40 Palestinian tourists, 25 members of a local pharmacists’ association were included, who initially intended to make a tourist trip to Turkey. However, the Palestinian travel agency organising their trip suggested Cyprus as an alternative destination, because Israeli airlines still do not operate flights to and from Turkish airports.

The prime minister of the Palestinian Authority Mohammad Istaiyeh reiterated his government’s request to reopen the international airport of Jerusalem to serve Palestinian passport holders living in the West Bank more easily.

Located in the Atarot district, on the northern outskirts of Jerusalem and near the Qalandiya checkpoint, the airport operated as an international airport until early June 1967, when East Jerusalem was under Jordanian rule.