Palestinians Gear Up for Opening of Gaza Airport

Any day now, as soon as Israel gives the word, the doors to Gaza International Airport will swing open, an inaugural flight carrying Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat will touch down, and Palestinians will mark another significant milestone in the peace process.

The opening of the $70-million airport, one of a series of steps to be carried out during the first phase of the new U.S.-brokered peace deal, could come as early as Friday, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials.

Already, Palestinian flags and poster-sized photos of Arafat are in place atop the airport’s cream-colored control tower, ready to greet the leader in festive style. But climb the narrow, winding stairway to the tower’s windowed control center, and it’s clear that not all is quite ready for business at Gaza International.

From the gleaming white floor to the matching white ceiling, the room destined to be the airport’s nerve center stands empty. Its state-of-the-art air traffic and radar equipment is stuck at an Israeli port while the Palestinians figure out how to pay $644,000 in customs and storage fees; its furniture has yet to arrive from Germany.

No matter, says the not-to-be-defeated chairman of the Palestinian Civil Aviation Authority.

“We are ready for operation immediately, from sunrise to sunset,” said Chairman Fayez Zaidan, who is expected to sign the airport’s protocol with Israel today and clear the way for the opening. “We are waiting for this day.”

Set on 1,100 flat, dusty acres near the Egyptian border at Gaza’s southern tip, the airport is a powerful symbol of the Palestinians’ dream of statehood because it helps establish a clear Palestinian identity. It also represents their first direct link with the outside world--Israel controls all border crossings--and holds the promise of a stronger Palestinian economy, less dependent on that of Israel.

To the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, the airport represents a gamble. Although Israel will share responsibility for security inspections at the airport with the Palestinians, the long-delayed opening marks a significant easing of Israel’s security control over the Palestinian-ruled territories.

“It’s a leap of faith for us,” David Bar-Illan, a senior aide to Netanyahu, said Wednesday. “They could bring in tanks, heavy equipment, heavy guns or 20,000 volunteers overnight. But we’d like to hope that everything will be fine.”

Once the airport opens, Palestinian officials will carry out the preliminary passenger check-in, but a second inspection of luggage and documents will be performed in an Israeli-Palestinian section of the airport. Some of the Israelis will be hidden behind curtains or two-way glass, but not all, Zaidan said.

One afternoon this week, workers put final touches on the airport’s elegant main terminal, which boasts lotus-flower mosaics of multicolored stone and bright, Islamic-inspired paintings. Outside, roses, date palms and broad lawns had been planted.

Next door, work was continuing on the sumptuous VIP lounge, complete with crystal chandeliers, a marble fountain and a replica of the golden dome of Jerusalem’s landmark mosque. Visitors were allowed to peek at a special bedroom suite for Arafat, an incessant traveler.

From the armed guards to the project’s electrical engineers, those at work said that they were filled with pride to see the airport nearing completion and delighted that it already has a designation in the international airport code--GZ.

“To me, this is a dream,” said a ground operations officer who gave his name as Mohammed. “When I talk about the airport, as a Palestinian, it feels really like I am dreaming.”

The opening of the airport also means that the fledgling Palestinian air carrier, Palestinian Airlines, will finally have a place to base its three aircraft: two Fokker 50s provided by the Dutch government, and the pride of the fleet, a Boeing 727 donated by a Saudi prince. Major funding for the airport itself has come from Egypt, Germany, Spain, Sweden and the Palestinian Authority.

The airline, which is also headed by Zaidan, has been operating since 1997 from the El Arish airport just across the Egyptian border, flying to Amman, Jordan, and Jidda in Saudi Arabia. But the journeys are arduous, requiring passengers to travel by bus at night from Gaza City across the border to the air terminal and often to wait several hours before the planes take off.

“We hope that the airport will end the struggles for all these passengers,” said Mahmoud Joujou, 34, a ticket agent at the airline’s quiet Gaza City office.

Soon after the airport opens, Zaidan said, the airline plans to launch a new route, to Cairo, and to extend its reach to other cities in North Africa and Europe. Other carriers are expected to be granted permission to fly to Gaza, but no final determination has been made.

For now, until the control tower’s equipment arrives from the Ashdod port, planes will be guided onto the airport’s 3,300-yard runway by means of a temporary mobile control system, which can operate only during the day, Zaidan said.

He remains upbeat despite the problems. “Until now, thousands of difficulties have been overcome,” he said. “We will solve these too.”

The airport’s opening is one of several steps that the two sides are taking to implement the first phase of the new land-for-security accord. If the Israeli Cabinet gives its approval during a meeting today, Israeli troops are expected to begin withdrawing from a northern portion of the West Bank by Friday, and 250 Palestinian prisoners will also be freed.

Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson in Jerusalem contributed to this report.