Al-Akhbar | August 30, 2013
Ramallah – For the first time since the second intifada, Qalandia airport was the scene of intense activity by both Israeli civilian and military vehicles over the past two days, according to eyewitnesses in the area who spoke to Al-Akhbar. It is believed that the Israeli occupation forces are repurposing the airport to receive civilian and military aircraft, on the back of mounting talk about an imminent region-wide war.
The Jerusalem International Airport, or Qalandia airport as it is commonly called, overlooks the road linking Ramallah to occupied Jerusalem. The airport is located between populated Palestinian areas under the control of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).
The British Mandate authorities built the airport in the 1920s. Under the Jordanian administration, the airport became a hub for tourism and commerce.
Following the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, it was used in a limited fashion for civil aviation, before the Israelis turned it into an army base during the second intifada. Israel closed down the airport completely in 2000. Recently, the Israelis considered turning it into an industrial park after ownership of the land was transferred to the Jerusalem municipality.
The airport has been also used as a bargaining chip between the Israeli and Palestinian sides during negotiations, with the PNA demanding to turn it into a civilian airport under its control as a condition for negotiations. However, Thursday’s activity at the airport has now raised questions about the goal for rehabilitating it at this time in particular, prompting speculations that Israel may be seeking to turn it into an emergency airport in the event of a full-scale war.
Mahmoud Awadallah, an eyewitness living near the airport, told Al-Akhbar, “We noticed suspicious activity at the airport over the past two days. Two delegations entered the premises, one civilian and one military, accompanied by military vehicles. They conducted repairs and tested the runway by driving over it at high speed. They also installed what appear to be reflectors to facilitate aircraft landing. But they stopped working today.”
In Israel, every aspect of life is being prepared for the worst-case scenario. Shelters are present in every city on a very large scale. Protection gear is widely available, even among ordinary citizens.
Furthermore, there are major expressways that can act as emergency landing strips for military and civilian aircraft, if Israeli airports in the north should come under bombardment.
All this raises questions about the reason Israel has chosen to rehabilitate Qalandia airport. Awadallah said, “The occupation wants to shelter itself among the Palestinians, as the old airport, which has been neglected since the beginning of the second intifada, is unlikely to come under attack given its location among Palestinian population centers and its proximity to Ramallah.”
Israel does not have military airports in Jerusalem. Most Israeli air bases are located in the southern regions adjacent to the Gaza Strip, in a cluster stretching from Tel Aviv along the Mediterranean, to the Negev Desert in the south. If Israeli military airports in the north were to be bombed, Qalandia would be the closest functioning airport to Syrian territory.
The Israeli home front is living a real state of war reminiscent of the situation that prevailed inside the Jewish state shortly before the Iraq war in 2003. Anyone following Israeli media would come out with the impression that the international campaign against Syria will begin in a matter of hours. Anti-missile systems like Patriot, Arrow, and the Iron Dome have been widely deployed along occupied Palestine’s northern border, as Israelis flocked to distribution centers providing gas masks for the second day in a row, in anticipation of any chemical attack from the north.