Al-Quds International Airport: Conflict over Identity

Feb 26, 2021 09:15 am

Al-Quds International Airport – or Qalandia Airport – is located between Al-Quds and Ramallah near Qalandia town in the occupied West Bank. It was part of the Palestinian Authority’s dream for the Palestinian state. However, the ‘Israeli’ occupation crushed such dream through seizing, closing and turning it into a disserted area in preparation for building a huge settlement compound.

The Beginning

Al-Quds International Airport was established in 1921 during the British occupation on an area of 1200 donums, and was the first and only airport in Palestine at the time.

The airport consisted of a control tower and terminal building. The British military forces and high-profile figures used it in their travels to Al-Quds until the Lod Airport, currently known as Ben Gurion Airport, was established in 1936.

Ewida Family: The Founding Family

In 1948, after the British occupation was over, the Airport was disserted and was never used again until Ewida family, from Al-Quds, decided to reopen the airport. This family had been in the tourism business in Palestine since 1850, and it thought of the airport as an opportunity to replace vehicles that took long time to reach the occupied Al-Quds and, hence, improve the tourism sector in Palestine.

Yusuf Ewida, son of one of the founding fathers of Al-Quds International Airport, says, “When my father, Ali Ewida, saw the disserted land, he asked me why not open the airport and call it Al-Quds Airport? He, along with my uncles Umran and Fayez, headed to the King of Jordan Abdullah I and took his approval. Jordan at the time was in control over the West Bank, so the project was approved in the early 1950s”.

Al-Quds International Airport started operating under the control of Jordan. The first plane that landed was coming from America with 28 passengers on board. Several airline companies, such as the Lebanese Airlines, the Middle East Airlines, Egypt Airlines and Jordan Airlines, concluded agreements with the airport whose work continued until 1967.

The Naksa

When the Naksa broke out, the airport fell in the hands of the occupation as so did all other Palestinian lands. The occupation changed its name to ‘Atrot’ Airport, but it was still under the Jordanian jurisdiction. Despite the occupation’s attempts to send international flights through it, the international flights authorities refused. It was considered part of the occupied lands, so the occupation had to use it for internal flights only.

Its Closure

When Al-Aqsa Intifada erupted in 2000, the occupation closed down the airport; claiming it was targeted by resistance’ operations, because it was near Ramallah. The PA insisted on retrieving it to become the airport of the future Palestinian State. It was negotiated on during the Camp David Accords, yet these failed due to the occupation’s pride. The occupation enlisted the airport as part of the ‘Israeli territory’ in the occupied Al-Quds, but the PA refused such claims and insisted on its right in the airport.

Isolation and Transformations  

Since the establishment of the 2002 Apartheid Wall, the airport has gone through several transformations. It was far and difficult to reach, and it was isolated from the surrounding neighborhoods such as Kafr ‘Aqab and Al-Ram, which facilitated transforming a part of it into an industrial zone in February, 2012. 

The occupation is working on turning the remaining parts into a huge settlement compound following a new scheme. The so-called Ministry of Housing issued in 2020 a decision to establish a settlement that includes 9,000 settlement units on 900 donums of the airport’s original area. It will also establish malls, on an area of 300,000m2; a hotel; water tanks and other Jewish religious facilities on 45,000m2. This settlement compound will be part of ‘Al-Quds Al-Kubra’ (the Great Al-Quds) project that the occupation seeks to implement.

The settlement scheme does not target the seizure of the airport’s land only. Tens of Palestinian homes surrounding it will be seized as well. This mainly supports the argument that the occupation is working on changing the demography and geography of the area through separating Ramallah from occupied Al-Quds and displacing hundreds of Palestinians to replace them with settlers. These actions also put an end to the ‘two-state solution’ project and crush the PA’s dream of having a Palestinian state with sovereignty and an international airport.

The occupation has never stopped trying to veil the Al-Quds International Airport from the reality and memory of the Palestinian people.

Related