Many residents of Eilat, as well as the city's leadership, are furious at a recent proposal to allow the local Ramon Airport to officer direct flights to Turkey for Palestinians. From Turkey, Palestinian travelers will be allowed to continue on to destinations in Arab states, including Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
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The proposed plan would see Palestinian travelers gather at a designated point prior to their arrival at the airport to undergo security procedures, accompanied by Israeli security personnel. Once they reach the airport, they will undergo another security check and only then will they be allowed to head to their flight gates.
Palestinian travelers who pass the security checks will have free movement of the terminal and the duty free shops.
Turkish airline Pegasus will operate direct flights from Ramon Airport to Istanbul, from where the travelers can make connecting flights.
The framework arrangement, proposed by Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli, came as somewhat of a surprise to Eilat residents, who learned about it from a report in Israel Hayom.
"The government's behavior on the matter of flights abroad for Palestinians from Ramat Airport and the lack of any attempt to keep the immediate danger, their presence at the airport, away from us is infuriating," Eilat Mayor Eli Lankri said.
"I trust the security forces on everything having to do with the careful security arrangements, as they were presented to me, which apply to similar flights that leave from Ben-Gurion [International Airport, in central Israel], but the way in which the initiative was accepted, without us being notified or involved, is astonishing," Lankri said.
Lankri said he had convened an urgent meeting, to take place in Eilat.
"I want the government to wake up and help us work to revive the airport," he said.
Eilat resident Noga Bonen said, "This is a slap in the face to Eilat residents, and an unrealistic mistake. This will hurt the security of the city and its residents. The Arava highway is already very crowded."
Limor Damar Sofer, another resident of Eilat, said, "Transportation to and from Eilat to central Israel is already problematic, full of delays and annoyances on almost every flight. Now the level of anxiety will go up, too. It shakes up our sense of safety. I'm worried they'll carry out terrorist attacks, and not even security guards will be able to prevent a disaster,"
Deputy Mayor of Eilat Matan Beeri added, "The government never stops stepping all over Eilat – when it comes to health, transportation, and now basic reason and morality. For two years, we've been screaming about the need to reopen Ramon [Airport] as best as we can and open Eilat and the rest of Israel up to the world. They claim it's impossible, and finally it happens as a political gesture to foreign citizens who are very dangerous. We won't let this happen, and we won't forget who lent their hands to this decision."
However, some residents welcomed the decision, mostly because they see it as a move that will make it easier to bring Ramon Airport back into operations as an international hub. Nissan Vashdi, also a resident of Eilat, doesn't understand the objections: "Has someone forbidden Jews to fly out from there? I don't understand the problem," he says.
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