GAZA: ARAFAT LEAVES VIA NEW AIRPORT

Описание: (25 Nov 1998) English/Nat

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat left for Paris Wednesday on his first flight from the newly opened Gaza International Airport.

The airport, which opened on Tuesday, is a vital link for Palestinians bringing goods in and out of Gaza and a powerful symbol of independence.

The opening of the Gaza airport marks a significant loosening of Israel's grip over the Palestinians and a large step toward statehood.

Built with 75 (m) million dollars in contributions Gaza International has one 2-mile-long (3.5-kilometre-long) runway - long enough to accommodate all but the biggest jumbo jets.

On Wednesday the man who has done more than any other to see the airport become a reality, used it himself for the first time.

With an honour guard to see him off, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat boarded his private jet, bound for Paris.

From Wednesday his official flight number will always be 001.

For people in the cramped Gaza Strip, surrounded by barbed-wire on three sides and the sea on a fourth, the airport will provide the only easy way out.

Until now Palestine Airlines has had to operate from a small airfield in Egypt, denying Arafat one of the privileges enjoyed by almost every other world leader.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"It is the dignity of our president to leave from the national airport, this international Gaza airport. It is the first time it happens. I am very proud that all the arrangements that were made not only for this occasion but also for the longer term this will continue (so) that all the time his excellency will be departing and arriving from this airport and this means that his aircraft will be located here instead of being located outside the country, in Cairo."
SUPER CAPTION: Brigadier General Fayez Zeidan, Chairman, Palestinian Civil Aviation Authority

The Egyptian and Moroccan planes which landed at the airport on Tuesday were to leave later on Wednesday.

Commercial flights, including daily flights between Gaza and Jordan, will begin next week

Air Morocco has also agreed to two flights weekly.

And next month, U-S President Bill Clinton is expected to land here too - giving implicit recognition for independence, at least in Palestinian eyes

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