01/05/08

The evolution of flight in Palestine

The first airplane to visit the Holy Land was a Bleriot XI, flown by the French aviator Jules Vedrines, who participated in a competition to fly from Paris to Cairo. He landed near Jaffa, on the Mediterranean coast, on December 27th, 1913 - at a time when Palestine was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire.

Vedrines took off from Nancy in eastern France on November 20, 1913, and headed his Bleriot XI for central Europe, where his main stops were Prague, Vienna and Belgrade. His last stop in Europe was the Ottoman Empire capital Constantinople (today Istanbul in Turkey), after which he flew over Ottoman territory around the eastern Mediterranean, finally reaching Egypt via Beirut and Jaffa.

A few days later, on December 31st, 1913, a second French airplane reached Palestine - a Nieuport flown by Mark Bornier and Joseph Bernie, which landed near Jerusalem.

As Turkish pilots wanted also to prove their ability to perform long-distance flights, the "Cairo Expedition" was announced at the beginning of 1914. The aim was to complete a travel of about 2,370-km from Istanbul in Turkey to Alexandria in Egypt, through Lebanon, Syria and Palestine. Two airplanes - a Bleriot XI and a Deperdussin with Turkish pilots - took off on February 8th 1914 for the attempt. The Bleriot XI crashed near the Lake of Galilee and its two pilots were killed. The Deperdussin managed to reach Palestine and landed near Jaffa on March 9th, but when taking off to continue the journey, it crashed into the Mediterranean; one pilot drowned in the accident, while the other survived. Another Bleriot, named "Edremit" and flown by Salim and Kemal Bey, finally completed the "Cairo Expedition" successfully in mid-May 1914.

Aviation played a limited role in the Middle East during World War I. British military forces trying to conquer Palestine had to confront German airplanes, which came to the help of the Turkish army. By the end of the war, the British captured the entire land of Palestine. In 1923, the League of Nations gave the U.K. a mandate for the administration of Palestine, which continued until May 1948.

The minority Jewish population in Palestine started to show interest in aviation in the mid 1930s. Initially, a few aero clubs were founded for glider training - the Carmel Club, the Flying Camel Club and the Aero Club of Palestine. The next step was obviously to train pilots on single-engine light planes. This activity commenced at the Palestine Flying Service, which operated three Taylorcraft light planes. The first 11 graduates received their private pilot licenses in April 1939. A second flying school was run at the same time by the Aviron ("Airplane") company, operating a Tiger Moth biplane and three Polish-made RWD-8 biplanes. First graduates of the Aviron flying school received their licenses in July 1939. Aviron grew bigger with the years, merged with Palestine Flying Service and acquired more aircraft. By January 1942, already 95 private pilot's licenses were obtained in Palestine.

The first local airline - Palestine Airways - started operating inland flights in July 1937 with two Shorts S.16 Scion twin-engine aircraft. Later it acquired a Shorts S.22 Scion Senior and a DH-89A Dragon Rapide, and extended its services to Egypt, Lebanon and Cyprus. Palestine Airways continued operating until August 1940, when its aircraft were taken over for British military service in WWII.

Between July 1937 and the end of the British mandate in May 1948, 22 commercial and private aircraft were registered in Palestine. Following the UN resolution in November 1947 to divide Palestine into separate Arab and Zionist states, effective upon the termination of the British Mandate in May 1948, there was an outbreak of severe hostilities. The need for air power became critical to the zionists survival, and from this dire necessity was borne the Sherut Avir ("Air Service") - an illegal, clandestine zionist air force. Only 10 light planes were available then in zionist hands. Additional aircraft were acquired from "every possible source". When the zionist state was "founded" in May 14th 1948, Sherut Avir had already 25 aircraft. It became the Israeli Air Force, which played a vital role in the "War of Independence". In less than a year the Israeli Air Force introduced into service 178 aircraft of 30 different types. Those included heavy bombers, fighters, large and small transports, trainers and various other types.

Since then, and to-date, there are thousands of pilots of Palestinian origin whom earned their wings, and are flying the skies, with hundreds of them faring passengers around the world under different international airline carrier flags, and serving in the Air Forces of their adopted countries.

In 1997, with hopes for a peace settlement with occupying israel, and while still under the Israeli occupation, Palestinian Airlines (Al-Filastiniya) was founded.

The Gaza International Airport (IATA: GZA, ICAO: LVGZ, also known as Yasser Arafat International Airport) opened in 1998, but it closed in 2001 after being severely damaged by Israeli military forces. The main terminal building is still intact, but the radar station and runways are heavily damaged; the runway was rebuilt again, but it was also destroyed again by the Israelis... since then there were no other attempts to rebuild it). While staff still man the ticket counters, baggage areas, no aircraft has flown to or from the airport since then. The closest airport in the area is El Arish International Airport in Egypt.

The Gaza International Airport composes one runway for landing and taking off. It is 3080 m long and 60m wide with capacity to receive Jumbo- Jet and Boeing 747. The total area of the airport is 2350 Dunums. It contains a main halls for passengers with (4000 sq m) area enough to accommodate 750 thousand passengers per year with the possibility to be expand. It also contains buildings for civil aviation administration, ceremonies, cargo, another one for the clinic and the fire brigade, fuel station, maintenance building and watch-tower. The latter is (28 m) high. It is equipped with the latest aviation equipment to control and guide plane movements on land and in the air and during taking off and landing.

From the architectural perspective, the airport's buildings illustrate an architectural tableau representing one of the geometrical curios which has been recently constructed in Palestine. These buildings were designed as the Arab Islamic architectural pattern inspired by the ornamental old buildings of Jerusalem with its famous and precisely worked out arches

The airport was built with funding from Japan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Spain, and Germany and designed by Moroccan architects (modeled after Casablanca airport) and engineers funded by Morocco's King Hassan II. The total cost was $86 million. After a year of construction, it opened on 24 November 1998; attendees at the opening ceremony included late Yasser Arafat, President of the Palestinian Authority and former US President Bill Clinton. At the time, the opening of the airport was described as evidence of progress toward Palestinian statehood.

Palestinian Airlines began its operations on January 10, 1997, with two flights departing from Port Said Airport in Egypt to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, carrying Palestinians traveling to Mecca to perform al-umrah or "minor pilgrimage". The two Fokker-50 aircraft comprising the fleet were received from the Netherlands as part of its assistance to the Palestinian Authority. The pilots and crews of both planes were all Palestinians. (since then the airline has added a BOEING 727-230 ADVANCED to its startup fleet.)